Realm of The Evil Plot Bunnies
by Outcast001
Summary: This is where I'll be placing all the stories I've thought of but either couldn't finish or couldn't be bothered continuing. Some might be cross-overs and some might be normal, each chapter is a new story. If I get enough request's I'll try my best to continue it and make a proper story. Thanks. PS: probably add more over time.
1. Ninja Magic

_She ran._

Running as fast as she could from the screams that chased her, the headlights of the car quickly gaining but she dare not look back. Running along the side of an unknown highway the green eyed girl spied through the dark cloak known as night to see a dirt road that may _just_ be too small for her pursuers to follow, unless on foot which she would have the indefinite advantage.

Without a second thought the pink haired girl further increased her bone-breaking speed fueled on by adrenalin, fear and desperation. Skidding down half the small dirt hill that led to the small road, she jumped the rest and dashed into the forest road, the rocks hurt her bare feet but she took little notice as the large car screeched to a halt and six people hastily exited. Three boys and three she-devils.  
**'That sounded like their stupid high-pitched voices!' **her second self commented haughtily. _'It isn't the time to be making snide remarks just yet'_ pinkette replied before jumping over a fallen tree with relative ease, she was very fit for her size.

"Get back here you bitch! These shoes are brand new and it's your fault there now ruined!" she heard one of the girls screech.  
_'Actually, I think you were right'_ she thought before picking up her speed further, it hurt to the point she started crying but she knew that if they caught her now she would be in a lot more pain than she was currently in.

The small pinkette saw streams of light and, upon realizing they were torches, fought the erg to curse like her drunkard good-for-nothing father. Making a split decision she dashed into the trees, away from the road.

"You can run all you want Sakura, but we _will_ find you and we'll make you _pay!"_ she heard a different girl of the group scream.  
_'For what?'_ Sakura thought in a mix of panic and sadness. Sakura had a case of severe bullying, and she has the scars to prove it, from the day she entered high school to now. At the age of seventeen she was very much _sick_ of how she was treated, but today was different for one very simple reason.

The school's group activity day, **'hardly a group activity'**

The morning before this night, before classes started a school assembly was called to vote and decide on what 'group' activity they would do, naturally her hell pit of a school immediately went into an uproar with just about every idea, from the fun and promising to the sick and perverted. Now anything would have been fine since Sakura could, quite literally, walk out of school unnoticed and still have perfect attendance but then the 'Queens of the school' Ino, Karin and Ami came up with an idea, which their boyfriends immediately supported. A cruel idea that everyone agreed to, and thus sealed her fate.

The ancient hunting game.

Now the rules were quiet simple, one person was the hunted while the rest were the hunters. The hunted would be able to choose a bag of 'goods' that would help them in escape and evasion, the objects are also yours to choose, and then they are given an hour to go wherever however they can. Once the hunteds' time runs out everyone goes after them, using what he or she can to catch the hunted, as long as they don't use anything illegal.  
There can or cannot be a border, like the school grounds, but for Sakura's game there was no border. Luckily.

Now this famous activity is a game made up from a death sentence from back in ancient times. The man, woman or group that was found guilty and sentenced to death then they would be given a bag of goods and were hunted down and killed, only they would give you a whole day. The convicted would be sent away at dawn and come the next morning the people would go after the criminal, but there was a chance to survive. If the one being hunted could get across the nations border alive then your sentence would be downsized to exile, which Sakura desperately wished was optional for her.

The whole school agreed to they're queens command and they voted for her to be the hunted, which everyone eagerly joined in on and the teachers, who didn't care or were oblivious to just about everything that was going on, allowed it to happen.

So here she was running for her life, hunted down like some animal, and barely able to breath to_ keep_ herself alive.

There was, however, one thing they didn't expect the pinkette to be:  
She was prepared.

Now it wasn't like she had a whole lot of stuff to begin with but she did have a survival pack which was full of clothes, food and cash that would last her at least a week. Add that with the bag of goods and Sakura's physical skill she had lasted the whole day of ducking, diving, hiding, fighting, running and _instinct_.

Sakura slid under a falling branch just before it hit the ground and kept on running. Her lungs burning, her body screamed in pain with every movement and her mind begged for the black abyss known as sleep but her determination for safety and the adrenalin still coursing through her veins was keeping her wide awake and running.  
She could hardly see in the darkness but she suspected she was fairing better than the idiots with the torches since without it they would have so little sight that they wouldn't be able to see her pink hair.

She glanced behind her and saw the very distant light occasionally breaking through the trees and bush land, smirking she darted off deeper into the forest.

"Where is she?" The red haired girl screeched, she had glasses and clothes that were best described as mismatched. At _best_. Her boyfriend *coughmanwhorecough* grabbed her waist in suggestive manner that distracted her from her objective, and shut her up about her shoes.

"Karin, baby, it doesn't matter. She'll be raped or eaten up by _something_ in this place" he said and the blonde accompanying them giggled in an annoying way but her boyfriend *coughplayboycough* found it 'sexy' which he probably used as an excuse to get in her pants, not that he needed to.

"Yeah Ino, that girl is as good as dead out here, lets just go" he said with a hint of boredom lacing his words. Ami shivered as she looked around and clung to her boyfriend *coughdumbasscough* before voicing her opinion.

"Hey, let's get outta here, this place is creepy" she said and everyone agreed, the tall trees giving off an ominous feel that was scaring them all, but before leaving Karin shouted one last thing in hopes of Sakura hearing her.

"IF WE EVER SEE YOUR UGLY FACE AGAIN WE'LL RIP IT OFF! GOT THAT FOREHEAD!" she screeched at an ungodly volume and Sakura, despite being a safe distance away, had to cover her ears so she wouldn't go deaf. She sighed before fixing her bags inside an old hallow tree, she stared up at the magnificent titan and smiled before bowing deeply.

"Thank you for hiding me, ancient one, and please allow me refuge for the night" she said, the wind blew and she felt a calmness emit from the sentient being, telling her that it accepted her request, and stood strait before entering the open doorway. Laying down a sleeping bag she brought out an intricate little music box and, using her white circular necklace, she wound up the small device and it began a soft melody. Sakura closed her eyes as she sang her mothers lullaby.

_"Little child, be not afraid__  
The rain pounds harsh against the glass  
like an unwanted stranger  
there is no danger  
I'm here tonight_

little child, be not afraid  
the thunder explodes and lightning flash  
illuminates your tear-stained face  
I'm here tonight

_And someday you'll know  
that nature is so  
the same rain that draws you near me  
falls in rivers and land  
on forests and sand  
makes the beautiful world that you see  
in the morning  
_

_little child, be not afraid  
the storm clouds mask our beloved moon  
and it's candle light beams  
still keep pleasant dreams  
I'm here tonight  
_

_little child, be not afraid  
the wind makes creatures of our trees  
and the branches to hands  
their not real understand  
and I'm here tonight  
_

_and some day You'll know  
that nature is so  
the same rain that draws you near me  
falls in rivers and land  
on forests and sand  
makes the beautiful world that you see  
in the morning  
_

_for you know  
once when I was a  
little child  
and i was afraid  
but a gentle someone always came  
to dry all my tears  
to sweet-slick the fears  
and to give a kiss goodnight  
_

_well now I am grown  
and these years have shown  
the rains a part of how life goes  
but it's dark and its late  
so I'll hold you and wait  
till your frightened eyes do close  
_

_and i hope that you know  
that nature is so  
the same rain that draws you near me  
falls in rivers and land  
on forests and sand  
makes the beautiful world that you'll see  
in the morning  
_

_everything's fine in the morning  
the rain will be gone in the morning  
but you'll still be here in the morning"_

She sighed as her body relaxed, Sakura would always sing that, whether it was night or day it would always bring her comfort, as long as she was alone.

Sakura laid her head down but it came into contact with something, she winced slightly at the sudden pain but eventually opted for investigating the object over nursing her slightly throbbing head. Lifting the sleeping back slightly to find nothing but leaves, Sakura sifted through the leaves to find out what it could possibly be. Her eyes widened at the ancient treasure that the old tree had been guarding for so long.

The scroll didn't have a date or a seal to identify anything about it but nonetheless Sakura ventured to open it, moving delicately and slowly so it didn't rip Sakura revealed it's content to her own self. Muttering 'thank you' multiple times in the ancient language mother taught her, it had no name for it was forgotten to all except to those who remembered it. The wind picked up and the tree groaned happily at the words before returning to its silence.

Sakura continued to read the scroll as a perplexed expression came over her delicate features; it seemed to be about something that looked like inter-dimensional travel, like how to get there and how much… _chakra_ you need for it to work, whatever that is.

Sakura looked at the instructions and recognized that you were supposed mark a circle around you what you want to bring and then you had to do certain hands signs in a particular order. Sakura thought about the prospect, she knew that the scroll was genuine and that this was no prank because she had experienced _plenty_.  
_'Who knows, why not take a chance'_ she thought and her Inner egged her on **'Yeah, I mean what have we got to lose? Father? School? Ha! And if it doesn't work then we keep it something and act like nothing happened'** her Inner reasoned and she nodded in agreement, leaving the safety of the tree she placed her gear in an empty clearing. Drawing a circle in the earth she stood in the middle and went through the necessary hand signs slowly, albeit clumsily, and waited for a full minute but when nothing happened Sakura sighed. Not even bothering to move back towards the hollow tree she bid the forest a 'good night' in the ancient tongue before drifting into slumber.

As the pinkette slept the circle sparked in one place shortly before disappearing, then another spark in a different part of the line, and then another, and another and another until the whole circle was sprouting a silver light higher and higher, like a wall of light, before it finally flashed in a blinding explosion. When the smoke and dust cleared all that was left of the girl was a scorched circle in the middle of the forest.

When Sakura woke she felt as though a car had hit her, multiple times, with a bull bar. Groaning in pain at the stiffness of her muscles she struggled into a sitting position, her conscious slowly sleeping back into the real world Sakura remembered the events of last night. Sighing she stood and made her way to one of her bags, taking out some ointment that was meant to help with sore muscles she applied it to her skin before grabbing some water and some dried meat. Ripping the meat almost absentmindedly she thought about her situation as she ate.

It was quiet simple really, if she went to school she would be beaten within an inch of her life while of she went home would be beaten within an inch of her life and then some, either way it didn't bode well for the tired pinkette.

Placing the leftover jerky back into its container she sipped her water bottle for a further ten minutes before placing back with the rest of her gear, she would just have to go off the grid then. Her gang would be pretty good, her gang were dancers that simply couldn't make a proper career out of it and so went to illegal competitions, which Sakura wondered why they were illegal when all they were doing was dancing but the world never made any real sense to her.

Sakura took everything out of her bags and pockets and listed everything she had; nodding to herself she took her time to pack up. Grabbing some black and red shoes, black baggy pants, and a red sleeveless shirt she quickly changed. Shrugging on her packs as best she could she looked around trying to find her bearings, only to realize one crucial detail.

This was not the same forest.

Sakura looked around but recognized nothing in terms of her location; she remembered the scroll and her eyes fell to the earth, scanning for the ancient object. Picking it up once it was located she continued to read through it, she made a mental note to read _everything_ before trying to accomplish it next time. Her eyes spied on the last words of the parchment.

_If performed successfully you will awake to find yourself in a new world, this is the world where the scroll you currently possess originated. This world will most likely be vastly different from your own but will also hold many similarities.  
This jutsu cannot be repeated from this scroll, you're stuck here._

Sakura twitched slightly at the last three words, clearly the maker had a sense of humor and Sakura had to admit that she was thankful for that; it lightened the situation a little. Sighing she rolled it up and placed inside one of her packs before setting off, no idea where she was heading but not really caring at the moment.

Sakura estimated about two hours she's been traveling and she has not come across a single thing that could direct her towards any form of civilization. She stopped in her tracks as she came to a steep hill that looked like it had been through a landslide recently, adjusting her packs she started up the hill. Her shoulder length hair swayed in the midday breeze, she gripped a root and hauled herself up only to feel her feet fall out beneath her as the earth loosened. Sakura gripped the root as she now tangled over the newly formed edge that, if she falls, could very well break her leg or worse.

Taking a deep breath Sakura began the process of hoisting herself over the edge and onto safe ground. Once she was safe from the fall she continued her trek, after a good thirty minutes of slipping, tripping and almost breaking her neck she had finally made it to the top. She spied through the trees and saw, what looked like, a road.

Sakura muttered a mixture of remarks and thanks in the ancient language and made her way to the road.  
**'So… which way are we gonna go?'** her inner asked and she replied with something akin to 'no idea' which her inner made remarks about, looking right and left a few times she shrugged and turned left.

After about an hour of walking Sakura decided to take a break, moving over into the shade she grabbed some more jerky and water.  
**'About bloody time! I felt like I was about to **_**die**_**'** Sakura sighed at her Inner's antics as she leaned against the young tree, to most this tree would probably look old but Sakura knew better. It could be no more than ten years old; she smiled up at the canopy before she took another swig. She closed her eyes to take a nap when she heard a loud and childish voice, it seems the voice belonged to a male and was talking with someone.

"Come _on_ Deidara! We've been walking for _hours_ can we take a break now?_ Please_!" the boy asked, Sakura kept her eyes closed as she tried to take her nap.

"Fine! If it'll shut you up!" the older, more masculine sounding male yelled in annoyance, his partner cheered and ran around like a mad man into the tree line, where Sakura was resting. The half-asleep pinkette felt a slight pain as something hit her leg, she opened one eye to see a man with black spiky hair clad in a black cloak with red clouds face-planting the ground with his legs over her own.

"Shoot, I am so sorry! I didn't expect you to run over here" Sakura said.  
**'I say let the dumbass stay there, the idiot couldn't even see a pink haired girl for Christ's sake!'** her Inner ranted but Sakura pushed her to the back off her mind as she helped the man into a sitting position, she was sitting on her knees, she saw that the man wore a orange mask that had a swirl shape which circled one eye hole. The child-like stranger whimpered in slight pain, there was a large bump on his head.

"That's okay, can you kiss it better?" he pleaded, Sakura paused slightly when she heard the request.  
**'Pervert Alert! Pervert Alert! That guy is trying to get into our pants! Kill the bastard! Kill the bastard!'** her Inner ranted but Sakura remained calm since she was in a new world and all it might be a normal thing to do here… maybe.

"Uh, o-okay…" she muttered awkwardly, blushing slightly she lightly grabbed his shoulders and lent down to kiss the injury better. Before she could get close enough the boy flew away and crashed into a tree.

"Damn it Tobi! Stop being a pervert, sneaky bastard, yeah" his partner muttered the last part before he sighed, Sakura looked up just as he put his foot down. She saw his long blonde hair was put in a high ponytail that had a bang of hair covering one of his bright blue eyes.  
**'Holy shit he is HOT! Can we take him home with us? Please Sakura, **_**please!**_**'** Inner begged but Sakura mentally shook her head.  
_'No, I'm not going to take him home with me, even if he is kinda cute… and besides, even if I did decide to listen to you we have no home to go to' _she retorted before focusing on the situation.

"Sorry about Tobi, he's an idiot, yeah," he said and he looked down at her, his eyes widened a bit as he hummed curiously, crouching down he smiled at her.

"Your pretty cute, quite the work of art I'd say, yeah" he said happily, he stared at her hair for some time and Sakura resisted the erg to sigh at the question she knew was coming.

"Is your hair natural, yeah?" he asked and Sakura actually did sigh at this, she also noticed the fact that he said yeah at the end of everything.

"Yes it is, don't ask me why I was just born with it" she said and he nodded, the blonde turned to his partner and scowled at him as the masked man came and sat next to the pinkette.

"So where are you heading miss?" he asked curiously, she could imagine a childish smile behind that mask. The blonde seemed interested in the answer as well.

"Please don't call me miss, my name is Sakura, as for where I'm heading… I don't really know" she stated truthfully, moving into a sitting position she leaned on her hands and gazed up at the canopy "To wherever the wind takes me I suppose" she muttered as she remembered the old catchphrase. The two seemed intrigued by her answer and were about to ask more when a rumbling was heard, Tobi laughed sheepishly as he scratched the back of his head.

"I guess I'm hungry" he laughed and Deidara scowled at him, clearly not happy.

"I told you to eat before we left, yeah" he growled but both were stunned silent when they heard a beautiful sound, now they had heard this sound before but they couldn't help but be captivated, the pink haired girl laughed. She quelled her laughter before looking at the two.

"I have some food that I can share if you want," she offered and the two paused, Tobi was the first to break out of their revere and happily accepted. Nodding Sakura moved and pulled out her dried meat and handed it to the masked boy.

"What's this?" and Sakura looked at him oddly before remembering that this was a different world and probably didn't have the same food as her.

"Its called jerky, it pretty much dried meat but some people add salt or marinade before drying it to make it taste better" she said and he nodded before digging in, Sakura turned and offered the blonde some and he took it with thanks.

"This doesn't taste half bad, did you make this, yeah?" Deidara asked and Sakura smiled, nodding she nibbled on a piece of her own. Offering them some water they rested for a while, Tobi asking questions every chance he got.

"Where do you come from?" he asked, Sakura paused but decided to be cheeky.

"From Earth" she smirked, Deidara chuckled lightly but Tobi wasn't deterred.

"No silly, what nation are you from?" he asked and Sakura looked back at the canopy.

"I'm not really sure, my parents traveled a lot so I can't really know for sure" she honestly said. It's true that her parents traveled the globe a lot and once she was born they took her along, that's where she learned the ways of the world. Things like how to cook in the wild, what you could and could not eat, how to make a shelter, basic medicine, reading the weather and so much more. But then…

"Aren't you traveling with your parents, yeah?" Deidara asked and Sakura shook her head, looking back at them her eyes told them that it was a subject that she could not trust them with just yet.

"So where are you boys heading?" she asked and they told her about how their leader forced them to go on some crummy mission and now they were heading back, at that moment Deidara noticed something; they were S-class criminals yet she didn't have a hint of fear, like she didn't even know who they were and even if she didn't then his slashed Hitai-ate should tell her that he abandoned his village and was a missing-nin but she didn't seem to noticed, or she just didn't care. Either way he didn't mind, having someone outside the organization not scared of him was a refreshing change.

"Hey, I've noticed your cloak is ripped and it's kinda bugging me, can I fix it?" she timidly asked the blonde, he looked at his cloak and that, yes, it was in fact ripped. He smiled at her before taking off his garment and gave to her. She pulled out a sewing kit from one of her bags and got to work; using a black thread she expertly repaired the poorly treated fabric.

"Wow Sakura-Chan, your really good at this!" Tobi exclaimed and she smiled but it didn't last long "Can you be my wife? Please! You would be perfect, you're pretty and capable and you're really nice!" he practically yelled, Sakura blushed and stuttered before practically hiding her red face behind the cloak. Deidara growled before he kicked his teammate, sending him flying into the same tree and this time breaking the tree. Sakura was sort of annoyed how little people paid attention to the nature around them, she herself had a very strong bond with plants and forests and greatly enjoyed their songs and stories.

"Deidara! Why would you do that? I just wanted Sakura as my wife, unless…" Tobi gasped, "You love her too!" he proclaimed, standing tall and pointing an accusing finger at the blonde. Said blonde scowled at him but the blush could be noticed.

"No I don't" he said, the childish boy shook his head defiantly.

"You said she was cute!" he said, and they got into an argument once again. Sakura, thinking this to be a regular occurrence, continued with the job of repairing the robe. She saw the red clouds that dotted the black material had white lining the shape and she had to say that it looked pretty cool, her smile dropped however when the trees suddenly became silent for a few long moments.

'_Danger'  
'Run'  
'Get way'  
'Run Sakura-hime'  
'Sakura-hime, leave'  
'Escape'_

They all repeated these words and others similar in whispered voices but she head them clearly, turning to the bickering two she hushed them and listened as the trees shook with the wind in a way she noticed as fear.

"What's wrong, yeah?" Deidara asked. Sakura looked around her before shifting her gaze to him.

"Something's wrong" she said quietly and he suddenly noticed how quiet it was, he was instantly on alert and Tobi seemed to do the same thing and all three waited for something, _anything_, to happen. The world was still and the atmosphere was suffocating.

'_Behind'_

Sakura swirled around just in time to dodge a punch that would of winded her, her assailant wore a mask and armor and other such garments that suggested some sort of warrior.

"Hunter-nin!" Tobi yelled and moved to rescue the pinkette but found that she was holding her own, dodging attacks and adding a few of her own she seemed to be managing, four more appeared and attacked them with coordinated attacks. They both froze when they heard a pain filled cry, they look to the pink haired girl to see a kunai lodged in her left arm, but instead of making her weaker it just seemed to piss her off.

"Bastard!" she screamed as she managed to land a strong punch in the hunter-nins' face, they heard the breaking of metal and the shattering of bone as Sakura broke his nose and her knuckles. Everyone paused and stared at the pinkette who had just taken down a professional with minimal injuries, the hunter-nin groaned before slowly getting to his feet.

"Not bad girl" he admitted before charging at her, Sakura didn't have time to react as the man pinned her against a tree, cutting off her air supply.

"Sakura-Chan!" Tobi yelled and the attackers jumped at the two and managed to place restraints on them. The captor of Sakura grinned.

"If you don't want to see the girl hurt you will obey us" he said, his stance displayed arrogance, but it didn't last as Sakura choked out a few words.

"Obey _this!_" she yelled as she kicked him where the sun don't shine, the man cringed and released the girl to tend to his vital regions. Sakura huffed as she gripped her wounded arm as best she could, before she could take a single step one of the others appeared behind her and tapped the back of her skull, and darkness consumed her mind.

Sakura groaned slightly as she came back into the world of consciousness, her head throbbed painfully and she wished she was still unconscious. She opened her eyes only to cringe away when the bright light of a fire hurt her eyes, she waited until her eyes adjusted before she chose to look around and assess the situation.

She was tied up against a tree; Tobi and Deidara were on the other side of the fire with chains attached to them, her arm and knuckles were healed though still sore and her captives were rummaging through her packs.

"What is this?" one questioned as he took out her mp3, sure there were a bunch of fancy iPods back in her world but those shitty things broke way to easily so she chose to stick with mp3's, they can take a beating. They continued to pull things out and question certain items and for the most part Sakura was just annoyed that they were messing around with her stuff.

"Hey, this looks like it's worth something" another said as he pulled out her music box, it was a dark forest green with elegant gold markings stretched like vines around it and had tiny gold ball like legs to keep it elevated with a small hole where the key went in. Sakura's eyes widened before she screamed at them.

"Put that down! That doesn't belong to you! If you don't give it back I will _rip_ your _fucking thieving_ _arms off!_" she threatened but that only allowed them to mock her.

"Like you actually own this, you probably just stole it, but don't worry about it since you wont be needing it" Sakura looked confused and he grinned "Your going to be interrogated at the Land of Water for information on your Akatsuki friends there" he finished, satisfied with his words he placed the music box in his own pack they continued stealing from her.

"She has nothing to do with the Akatsuki! Just leave her be!" Deidara yelled angrily, Sakura noticed the lack of 'yeah' and deduced that when he's angry he loses the speech impediment. The group looked unconvinced and stated that he could be lying so she escape and tell the rest of the organization, Sakura decided it was best to just leave them be. Until the opportune moment, of course.

Hours had passed and it was well into the night but Sakura just kept on staring at the pack that held her most prized possession. The men were going to take turns on watch and she knew that the best time would be soon. The only man awake, besides Tobi and Deidara, went to scout the area, it was now or never.

Sakura hoped onto her feet in a crouched position, catching the attention of her fellow captives, and moved her hand to the heel of her shoe, albeit with difficulty, she managed to pull out a small blade and cut her bonds before making her way to the other two as quickly and quietly as she could.

"Are you two okay?" she whispered in a hushed tone, they both nodded and Sakura tried to undo the chains but there wasn't even a lock or a keyhole.

"What kind of chain is this?" she asked as she noticed the slight glow.

"It a chakra chain, it drains chakra to the bare minimum so were alive but cant do any jutsu, yeah" Deidara explained but he could tell she was confused about it.

"So how do you get it off?" she asked and Deidara sighed.

"The person who put it on needs to send chakra into it or have someone with either a larger amount of chakra or specializes in these types of things, yeah" he said and Sakura sighed, they were stuck and just couldn't get out of this one. Her head throbbed again as she remembered her headache, she heard the tree that her friends were tied to whisper to her.

'_I can help release your friends'_

Sakura looked from her friends to the tree; gazing at it she saw the spirit of the tree show itself amongst the bark, this did not faze the girl since she had seen plenty of spirits back in her old world but she had never seen this one so old, or powerful.

Sakura closed her eyes and allowed the spirit to enter the domain of her mind, it told her the spell that was needed for the release, warning her that the spell would drain her since she had clearly never used a proper spell before. Sakura nodded and took a deep breath before incanting the spell.

"_Per meum antiquo sanguine reserassem eos" _she commanded as her hand glowed with a white light over the chain that surrounded the tree, the whole chakra chain shattered into tiny pieces and evaporated, freeing the two astounded ninja she felt her energy drain away. Swaying slightly she heard muffled voices, her vision blurred as she saw the blonde and orange blur were talking to her.

Sakura felt the sensation of falling but took mild notice of someone catching her, she heard yells and screams that only sounded like voices under water and vaguely wondered how she could tell the difference. Her eyes finally closed and fell into the realm of sleep as she heard familiar voices calling out her name in panic.

'_Well, that was unexpected'_ Deidara thought as his mind settled down, he and Tobi had finished off those stupid hunter-nins and were currently heading to one of the villages occupied by Akatsuki with the pink haired wonder.

"Deidara…" Tobi said to get his attention, the mask boy actually sounded serious this time "should we tell Leader-sama?" he asked and for once Deidara didn't have a smart comment or insult, should they tell their leader? Yes, they should, but what would happen to her then?

Deidara couldn't help it but he didn't want to see the girl hurt, she was the human definition of art. One minute she's calm and quiet and the next she's a fiery explosion, she was the depiction of art and he couldn't help but be drawn to her. His decision was finale, she would be his muse and therefor she was under his protection.

"I'm not sure but I think we can agree on one thing" this caught his partners attention "we can't let her be hurt" he looked at his partner seriously and saw his nod, this would probably be the only thing they would agree on but at the same time it would probably be the strongest alliance either have ever made to another on a particular subject.

"What took you two so long? Your late" a red haired boy questioned irritably, his usually lazy brown eyes held annoyance at their tardiness. The blonde grinned sheepishly while the orange swirly mask one scratched the back of his head in a similar manner.

"We had a little run in with some hunter-nin, yeah" the pyromaniac explained but that only annoyed him further.

"That shouldn't have that long, **and whose the morsel?**" the fourth member of their party questioned, the two new comers noticed the black and white man then. His shoulders and head were covered by a Venus fly trap like plant and his split persona were two very different minds; one was kind and rather easy to get along with while the other was rude, blunt and just down right scary. Though they both had a thing for raw meat and cannibalism so you may want to stand at a distance just for safety.

"Sakura-Chan is not a morsel! Sakura-Chan saved our lives!" Tobi blurted and Deidara noticed the amusement in both the red haired puppet master and the plant hybrid.

"A civilian girl saved you? **That's pretty sad**" he said and Deidara scowled at the man.

"It wont be after I tell _how_ Zetsu, yeah" he said and this spiked the plant mans interest but the puppeteer was still unconvinced.

"I don't see how an odd haired girl could possibly be of any use, she hasn't even activated her chakra yet" he stated and Tobi answered for the blonde carrying the girl.

"Sakura-Chan didn't use chakra, Sakura-Chan used _magic!_" he called out and Deidara told him to be quiet, the red head scoffed.

"There's no such thing as magic" he said, he was beginning to tire of this.

"Well she did _something_ Sasori, and I intend to find out, yeah" the bomb master said with a strong tone that surprised the three other members, Zetsu walked up and inspected the girl. Deidara took a slight step back in case he tried to eat her.

"I'm not going to eat her, **unless Leader-sama says so**" he said and everyone knew that his words meant that she could go with him to see the leader of the Akatsuki, Tobi and Deidara shared a look before nodding to each other and set off with the other two towards the hidden base, Deidara explaining what happened along the way.

They reached the base in record time and entered the underground building; they passed many halls and many doors until they came to their destination. Tobi opened the door for Deidara and he placed the sleeping girl on the white medical bed, Zetsu went to report her appearance, and Sasori quickly checked the girl.

"She just collapsed out of exhaustion, it seems whatever power she used she didn't have much of it, but she should wake soon" he stated before leaving the room, Tobi said he would go get some food for her and swiftly left the room. The blonde sat down on the edge of the bed and watched her sleeping form; grabbing his clay he started sculpting. A million new ideas were running through his mind from just one look at her, he finished it quickly to see his creation was a cat with wings. He threw it into the air and watched it explode, admiring the colors that littered the air.

He continued making new creations that would no doubt be useful in battle and impress his muse, he wondered briefly if she liked explosives but shook the thought away as he remembered the fireworks that were stolen from her bag when the hunter-nin took her stuff. At that thought he quickly got to his feet, remembering something important he ran towards the door, barely missing Tobi he continued running.

"Watch her while I'm gone!" he called before disappearing around a corner that led to the entrance from where they came.

Tobi just stared for a moment before shrugging and entering the infirmary. Placing the tray of food on the side table he sat down on the edge of the bed and relaxed as he saw the steady rise and fall of her chest, making sure no one was watching he took his mask off. His Sharingan glowing in the dim light he smiled at the sleeping girl.

"I wasn't joking when I said I wanted you as my wife, but now that I've seen your power it is certain, someone like you is destined for me and is the only one worthy to be mine" he muttered under his breath, gently stroking her peaceful face with the back of his fingers. He had never seen nor heard of any ability like hers before, never in his lifetime had he heard words like that and he was determined to figure his wife out.

He sensed someone coming and put his mask on and changed his demeanor back to a childish boy, he grinned behind his mask as he saw Pein walk through the doorway. He briefly looked at him before turning his grey ringed eyes to his sleeping wife-to-be and couldn't stop that small pang of protectiveness for his pink haired beauty.

His leader looked at him silently commanding him to tell him what happened, it seemed Zetsu decided to let someone else tell the story of how Sakura got him and his partner out of their predicament.

"Sakura-Chan said some weird words and the chain disappeared! Her hand glowed and it was really cool! But then she got tired and fell asleep, I hope she's okay" he said in an excited voice, until the last part which was laced with worry.

"I see, once she's awake she'll show her power" he stated before turning to leave the room, but Tobi's voice stopped him.

"But she's to weak! She'll need to rest first!" he yelled in an almost mature voice but he managed to keep his act together.

"She can do something simple" he stated and left, the door closed and Tobi couldn't help but feel angry at the sheer disrespect he showed the pinkette. He sighed, he couldn't do anything about it and could only hope she didn't collapse again.

Hours passed but Sakura still refused to wake, he looked at the clock again before looking at the sleeping girl. He could sense that her strength had mostly returned so he was getting more impatient as time went on, he wanted to see her eyes light up as she smiled again and he wanted to hear her laugh as the sun made her skin glow in the most vibrant ways, he wanted to see her hair sway in the wind, he wanted to do all those corny things in romance movies, he wanted so many things that simply involved her presence but alas, he would have to wait for her voice.

His head perked as he heard her mumble, his body grew tense with excitement as she stirred and his body relaxed as she opened her beautiful viridian eyes. His insides twisted in the strangest, but pleasant, ways when her hazy eyes turned to him.

"Tobi… kun?" she mumbled in the most adorable way, another thing to add to the 'reasons I love Sakura' list and his heart swelled when he heard the title she had given him.

"Sakura-Chan! Are you okay?" he asked childishly and she smiled at him with drowsy eyes.

"Just a little tired" she sighed and tried to sit up but her arms gave out underneath her, just then her stomach decided to voice its anger at being neglected "and hungry" she chuckled and tried again, this time he helped her and used the pillow to give her support and protection from the cold wall.

"There's some food here if you want it" he said happily and offered it to her, her eyes lit up as she smiled gratefully at him.

"Thank you Tobi-kun" she said, her head was slightly pounding and she felt like she had run the China wall and swam the Nile up river, twice. She devoured her food in record time only to blush at her bad manners; Tobi just took her tray and offered to get her some more, she thanked him again but stopped him before he left.

"Tobi-kun, have you seen my music box, it was green and gold" she said and almost feared the answer. She felt her heart shatter into an innumerable pieces when he shook his head, he left the room and Sakura hung her head.  
_'Don't cry, don't cry, don't cry, don't cry, don't cry, don't cry, don't cry…'_ she repeated like a mantra, her eyes shut tight as one single tear slid down her cheek.

"Are you alright, yeah?" her head shot up at the voice but quickly looked away, hoping he wouldn't see her face.

"I-I'm fine" she muttered as she furiously wiped her eyes, she felt the bed tip as Deidara sat by her side, obviously not convinced he pulled her into a hug.

"What's made you so upset, yeah?" he asked and Sakura choked back a sob to answer him.

"My mothers music box" she said quietly and she clung to his arm, she may seem weak but at the moment she couldn't give a damn. She felt him move so he could look at her face, he gave a perplexed look that held a tint of excitement.

"Would that music box be green and gold, yeah?" he asked and Sakura nodded solemnly, he grinned before pulling away and started digging through his pockets.

"Is this it, yeah?" Deidara asked as he pulled out a small object, the pinkettes' eyes widened for a long moment before she tackled him in a hug with surprising moment.

"Thank you Deidara-kun!" she yelled out happily, she parted herself from him but quickly pecked him on the cheek before delicately taking the beloved music box. Deidara was frozen as his face warmed at the wonderful, albeit brief, feeling that he felt when she kissed him. Yup… he was hooked.

"Deidara, what are you doing? If you have time to flirt you have time to do work" someone unknown said, his masculine voice was one she had never heard before. Looking at the doorway she saw a man who was had green eyes that were darker than her own and had a mask covering his lower face. Looking dismissively at her he turned back to the blonde.

"What is she even doing here?" he asked but a man with slicked back silver spoke before Deidara could answer.

"Who cares? She fucking hot!" the man laughed, his reddish pink eyes looked at her in a way that reminded her of some of the jocks back in her school.

"I don't care Hidan, this girl doesn't belong here" he stated and Sakura had to agree, this place was probably full of criminals and from what she gathered from those… hunter-nin? Deidara and Tobi were criminals as well. The silver haired male, Hidan was about to retort but a powerful voice stopped him and everyone else along with him, he had wild orange hair and he had many piercings on his face.

"I see the girl is awake" he stated and Sakura froze like a deer in headlights "Is it true how you saved Deidara and Tobi from the hunter-nin?" he asked in a tone that Sakura could not deny.

"Yes" she stated quietly, he nodded and gestured for her to follow him. Sakura clutched her music box to her chest but otherwise followed the man; he led her outside the underground building and into a clearing.

"I want you to use the same technique as you did before" he stated and it took a few seconds before she realized he was talking about the spell. She looked at the trees around her and she could feel their protective energy, if he or anyone attacked her then nature would act on it.

"I'm not sure I can" she admitted and she sensed the mans irritation, taking a step back the trees rustled their branches, though there was no wind, and this caught the pierced mans attention.

"Then try" he commanded and Sakura inhaled deeply before grabbing a random rock and held it in her open palm.

"_Levare__"_ she chanted and the rock shifted before levitating above her palm, the orange haired male took a step towards her and she jumped, the words sprang form her lips in panic before she could think.

"_Perforabit__"_ the rock shot forward but the man in front of her just tilted his head and the rock imbedded itself into the boulder behind him instead of his head. Sakura took a step back and the man was suddenly if front of her holding her outstretched wrist in a vice-like grip, glaring at her she tried to pull away but his grip tightened and she winced.

"_Never _try that again" he growled threateningly and Sakura tried to pry the larger mans hand off her wrist, but it only ended the man tightening his grip further. Vines quickly began to grow across the ground and slithered closer to the pinkette, this caused the man to tighten his his even further. almost breaking her wrist.

"It was instinct!" she yelled as she shut her eyes tight at the pain, his grip loosened slightly at this but he otherwise made no change. After a long silence she felt the trees prepare themselves for the possible fight, at last he spoke.

"You will join my organization" he said and Sakura stiffened, the tone in his voice was absolute but it reminded her of times she would rather forget.

_Sakura walked down the hall, once again ignoring the stares she was receiving, she increased her pace as she passed a certain group of girls and their so-called boyfriends._

"_Hey freak-face!" Karin called as she grabbed her hair and threw her to the ground "Weren't you gonna say hello?" she asked in a sickly sweet voice, looking at her nails as the others crowded around her._

"_No" Sakura simply stated, "Who would want to talk to a horrid bitch like you" she put on a brave front. She felt a painful jolt in her side as Karin kicked her; she held any sound from escaping her throat._

"_You know, I think you would make a very good slave, besides your personality of course but we can fix that" Ami said gleefully and Sakura cringed at how ugly she looked. The others agreed and Ino stepped up as Sakura tried to stand._

"_From now on you will be our slave" she said in a tone that left no argument, Sakura was forced to hang her head from the pressure one of the boys hands._

_For the next two months Sakura had to work up the nerve to fight back against the hell pit she was thrown into._

Sakura's growl was almost animalistic and she began to fight back with a surprising strength she didn't know she had, she would _not_ let herself be pushed back into that hell pit.

"No _way _am I letting you push me around, I am _no ones_ slave! _trudo!_" Sakura yelled and the pierced man flew back and smashed into the boulder, creating a crater around his body. Not even bothering to see if he was even alive Sakura did the first thing her instincts told her.

She _ran_.

Moving as quickly as she could, with the trees guiding her, Sakura knew that they would be able to catch up to her, she had seen how those hunter-nin moved and suspected they could move just as fast if not _faster_ then them and, therefor, her.

She came to a river and followed it down river, but she didn't get far as she came across a large cliff. The view was spectacular but it hindered her escape, looking from side to side she noticed a rock sticking out from the edge of the cliff in the middle of the river, using a small levitation spell she landed on it and looked down.

'_Too high, Sakura-hime'  
_'_The water isn't deep enough'  
'Turn back, find another way'_

They told her and even she could see the water wouldn't be deep enough for her to dive in and even if it was she wouldn't survive the fall, not on her own at least. She heard someone chuckle, turning around she saw a blue skinned man that very much reminded her of a shark, his partner had long black hair that was held in a low ponytail and was very handsome but he looked very serious… or just unhappy, either one.

"You can jump if you want kiddo but your chances aren't all that good" he grinned and his friend nodded in agreement, she looked back over the edge.  
_'Oh, what was that spell again? Come on come on! Think, _think_ dammit!' _Sakura perked as the words entered her head, she looked back at them; her face held a cheeky, confident look that put the two on edge. She placed her music box in a zip pocket and made sure it was secure before facing them properly.

"I'll take my chances" she said as she leaned back and fell over the edge. She heard one of them curse but she simply closed her eyes and uttered the spell under her breath.

"_Levare__" _she muttered and her body suddenly slowed its descent, hovering downwards slowly she moved herself so that she was moving feet first, one leg bent while the other was strait and her foot pointed towards the water.

Once she got close enough she was going to move towards land but the water came alive and tried to catch her, she jolted upwards but the water behind her shot out. Striking her she lost the spell and began falling at normal speed, she didn't even have time to scream as the water engulfed her and brought her back to the two men at the top of the waterfall.

"Nice try pinkie" the shark like man laughed before he bound her hands behind her back and put a hand on her shoulder as he guided her back to base, his partner following close behind.

When they reached the base the leader was there and he was clearly not happy, Sakura wanted so bad to just run but knew she would get far. Once they reached the entrance the others stood clear of both Sakura and their leader, she knew something was coming but didn't expect to be pushed by an unknown force through multiple trees.

When the dust cleared Sakura coughed up blood but otherwise showed no real signs of pain besides the usual winces and grunts, she forced herself into a sitting position, the tress cried out in both pain and panic and immediately worked to heal the pinkette. A shadow cast it's frame over her own and saw the leader glaring down at her, she chuckled despite herself.

"I'm guessing that was payback?" she questioned without looking away from his ringed eyes, which flashed in surprise but it vanished quickly. She saw how her ankle was out of shape with a bone sticking out form beneath the skin, quickly she pushed it back into place; a small grunt of pain was the only sign she made, the energy of the forest already working once it was back in place.

"Why don't you just heal yourself?" he asked and Sakura sighed, checking to make sure her music box was alright she answered him.

"I don't know many spells, and healing spells are too advanced for a child" she said and he looked skeptically at her, thinking about her words.

"What about the spell you used to free Deidara and Tobi?" he interrogated and Sakura paused. It was forbidden to speak of the ways of the ancients to outsiders unless absolutely necessary.

"That one I just learned recently but had never actually used until then" she said, and it wasn't a lie it just wasn't the whole truth. His look said he didn't believe her but he seemed to simply postpone it for later because he called Deidara to carry her inside.

"What were you thinking, yeah?" he asked her and Sakura looked away, she knew that had an underlining question.

"Its difficult to explain" she admitted, she heard him chuckle as he entered the halls.

"I'm sure you'll have plenty of time to explain, yeah" he said as he entered the infirmary. Placing her gently on the bed he took her shoes off and smiled at her, he looked at the music box as Sakura looked it over again, making sure it wasn't damaged.

"So why did you try to run, yeah?" he asked and Sakura sighed, lowering her music box and her eyes to her lap she took a deep breath.

She told him about her old home and how the whole school bullied her but mainly by three girls and their bed mates, she told him they treated her like a slave at one point and how she fought back but ended up being treated worse. She almost started talking about her father but quickly stopped before he found out.

He openly stared at her in amazement; he would never have guessed that she suffered through so much. She seemed more of a proud housewife that knew only smiles and kindness and had a free spirit with a sense of humor, but then when he remembered how she fought before and her reckless stunt of trying to run away, he guessed that there was more than meets the eye with this pink haired wonder.

"Can I ask one more question, yeah?" he asked and she nodded "Why is that music box so important, yeah?" he asked and noticed how she faltered, she flickered her gaze between him and the music box. Finally she took a deep breath.

"It was my mothers, though it's been passed through the generations so it has great value, many have tried to steal it but none have succeeded" she explained and he nodded.

"So where is your mother now, yeah?" he asked but she remained silent, looking up at him her eyes held a sadness that was both familiar and foreign to him.

"She died long ago" she finally admitted like it was a dark secret, but it was not her mothers death that held the dark secret; it was what happened after her mothers death that caused her to act to secretive.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked, yeah" he bowed his head but Sakura just shook her head.

"My mother would still be dead, whether you ask or not, it wouldn't change anything, but that's why its so important to me; its one of the few things that allow me to remember my mothers face, I was very young when she died but with this she is, in a sense, immortalized within it… just like my ancestors" she explained and she gently stroked the treasured item with her fingertips.

He stared at her for a long time. Finding hard to believe that this vibrant girl had suffered so much from such a young age, but he could see it in her eyes, in her voice; she had suffered, yet she was still so joyful, even though she had suffered like him she was still so much like an innocent child, so happy.

"Just when I thought you couldn't be more perfect, yeah" he muttered, Sakura looked at him oddly but before she could voice her question at his words his lips were on hers. Pushing her against the wall he tried to blend his mouth into a more comfortable position but was pushed away before he could do so.

"U-um, Deidara?" the pinkette muttered timidly, she couldn't understand the concept of what just happened.  
**'What do you mean? A hot guy just bloody kissed us! If I were you I would have egged him on!' **Inner ranted and Sakura pushed her to the back of her mind with a 'shut up!' before she focused on the real world.

"What? O-oh sorry Sakura-Chan, I don't know what, I… hey, um… don't hate me please, yeah" he muttered and Sakura couldn't help but sigh, she was way to nice.

"I don't hate you Deidara, but don't do something like that again" she commanded, but instead of agreeing the blonde smirked.

"What? Didn't like it, yeah?" he asked coyly. Sakura froze at his words before bursting into a fit of colors, Deidara simply laughed and patted her on the shoulder before standing up.

"Hey I'd love to stay but I got work to do, yeah" walking he waved to her before closing the door and left her alone. Sighing she lent against the wall, the lights were off so it was completely dark, smiling she opened her palm to her face level with it facing the ceiling.

"_papilio suus 'lucis"_ with those words a golden ball appeared, resting on her palm, and it stayed there for a good few seconds before it started floating towards the ceiling. When it reached about half way it flashed brightly, like a small firework, and from that dozens of golden butterfly's glowing brightly filled the room. Fluttering about the room randomly they danced in the darkness, leaving trails of glowing flecks that quickly faded behind them.

Sighing contently she watched them fly around the room, this was her favorite spell. This was the first spell her mother taught her, when Sakura was little she was terrified of the dark so when her mother first introduced her to her heritage this spell was the first one she learned.

The door burst open, light spilling into the room, and Sakura quickly undid the spell. The golden butterfly's fell to dust before disappearing altogether, she met the eyes of the silver haired foul mouth from earlier.

"Leader-sama wants to see you" he stated and Sakura nodded, standing up she quickly muttered thanks to the trees that healed her ankle, she may be underground but the roots were deep enough for them to hear. Walking to the door she waited for him to take her to where the ringed eyed bastard was, smirking he turned around and began down a hallway.

The walk was silent but she noticed how the tall stranger kept glancing at her, sighing she looked up at him.

"So what does that bastard want?" she asked, her choice of words caused the silver man to widen his eyes before he grinned, apparently liking her already.

"Fuck if I know, pinkie, he simply said 'bring her here, I need to discuss matters with her' or some shit" he imitated and Sakura giggled at his antics, touching her music box lightly that was in her pocket.

"So what's his problem, world domination?" she asked and he nodded, taking a turn and she followed.

"That's about it, but I don't fucking understand who would want that much fucking work" he muttered and Sakura nodded.

"Well I don't care about that, but he really needs to get that stick out of his ass" she muttered the last part, though her escort heard and burst out laughing.

"I like you pinkie, your way more fun than most of the fuckers here!" he said as another round of laughter made its way out of his throat, wrapping an arm around her shoulders her continued to lead her down the hallway.

"Well that's good, so… any more stick up the ass bastards I have to worry about?" Sakura really liked this conversation despite her situation.

"Plenty, there's Itachi who's a fucking walking ice block, Sasori's just an ass, Kakazu who's a stingy bastard that will steal your money and there's Zetsu but he's just weird" he listed them off and Sakura nodded, though she did question the last guy.

"How is Zetsu weird?" she asked and he grunted.

"He's got this split personality, a white and black side, his black side is a bitch while his white side is a goodie-two-shoes and, get this, he a fucking _cannibal!_ I'm not fucking kidding, I would steer clear of that fucking freak if I wear you" he ranted and Sakura nodded. Split personalities, cannibal, steer clear, got it.

"And what about you?" she asked offhandedly and he smirked in a way similar to Deidara but it looked a lot more dangerous.

"The names Hidan, you?" he asked and Sakura glanced up at him.

"Sakura, nice to meet you" she stated and he chuckled, squeezing her shoulders.

"Same fucking here" he muttered as they came to a large set of double doors "here we are" he grumbled and Sakura looked from the door to him.

"You're kidding me" she muttered and he chuckled, opening the doors he let her enter before closing them behind her. Looking behind her she took note that the doors had some sort of feel to them, probably seals or something, turning forward again she saw Pein sitting at a large desk with stacks of paper.

"You wanted to see me" she stated and he looked up at her, waited a few seconds, and then looked back down. Sighing Sakura just stood and waited, she was tempted to use her butterfly spell but that would probably get her in trouble or something.

"There is a book here that is a language I'm unfamiliar with" he stated, gesturing to a large book in front of him. Sakura walked up to it, eyes widening when she realized what is was.

Its earthy green hardcover with lining of gold on the spine and rims, the intricate silver pattern looked like growing vines. Those that neared the center twirled around a small circle that looked like a special lock, her necklace immediately came to mind.

"Is it unlocked?" she asked, moving her eyes from the book to the gang leader. He shook his head, saying that he used a jutsu to unlock it; she picked it up and opened it tentatively and tenderly, smiling at the graceful handwriting.

"What does it say?" he asked irritably but she could hear the slight tint of interest. She read the writing on the first page.

"Haruno of all blood may wield this book, all those of another blood shall not" was all it said, she grinned at the meaning. If you're not a Haruno this book would appear gibberish, she couldn't help the giggle that escaped her lips.

"So that means only you can read it then" he stated, she looked at him with a deadpanned expression.

"Not only me, any and all of Haruno _blood_ which means unless I'm the last Haruno in this world anyone related to me will be able to read this" she stated, silently calling him and idiot, and his glare showed that he got the under meaning.

Flipping a few pages she began reading; it told of spells, what the spells did, the pros and cons of said spell and the history from which the spell was derived. Half the things she read about a spells history made no sense to her and made her want to find more books or scrolls or… scraps of paper that had _anything_ about her clan.

"You will learn and master every spell in that book" he stated and she nodded her head, he may not be her leader but she definitely wanted to learn these spells, she would not make herself weaker just to spite him.

"You may leave" she nodded again, closing the book she made her way out. Finding her escort was gone she decided to just wander amiably around, eventually she came across a friendly face… well, mask.

"Sakura-Chan!" the boy jumped up to her and hugged her tightly, smiling she asked for breath and he let go.

"Tobi-kun, do you know if there's a library or something here? I want to read this book but I'm completely lost" she said and she could practically _feel_ his grinning face. Yelling 'yes! Yes! Tobi will take you!' he grabbed her hand and sprinted in a random direction, after a while he slowed and started being more quiet. Eventually they came to a set of doors and Tobi opened them for her, walking in immediately felt at home.

"Thank you Tobi-kun" Sakura said quietly and went up the stairs and jumped on a big pile of pillows and cushions, once comfortable she started reading. Feeling somebody sit next to her she dully noted Tobi had joined her but was napping instead, smiling softly she continued to read.

Sakura had read the book at least a dozen times yet she still continued to read over it, dedicating it to memory so she would forget no doubt. Tobi grinned under his mask; the girl had let him nap on her shoulder, and he was still there pretending to sleep and she didn't even notice.

"I know your awake Tobi-kun" she stated flatly. Ok maybe she did notice, lifting his head up he put on his innocent façade.

"How'd you know?" he whined and Sakura grinned, she put a finger to her lips and said it was a secret. Tobi, or Madara, tilted his head in genuine curiosity, he whined and begged for her to tell him the secret as Tobi but she held strong.

Sakura laughed at his antics and he stopped to hear the angelic sound, he smiled behind his mask at the image of him ruling what belonged to him and having her by his side, laughing with their _many_ children. He would have to be patient to make this a reality.

The pinkette smiled at her friend, she knew she shouldn't trust anybody in a criminal gang but who said she couldn't enjoy herself? Closing the book she stood and stretched, wanting to eat and then go to sleep she asked where the kitchen was.

When Sakura arrived at the kitchen she saw her chat buddy Hidan, arguing with a man covered in stitches and a mask. Hidan paused to grin at her before turning back to the man; she noticed the shark-like man from before and his partner the dark haired guy.

"Do you know how to cook Sakura-Chan?" Tobi said loudly and this appeared to grab everyone's attention.

"Yes, why?" just as Sakura got out her words almost everyone in the room sprang to life wanting her to cook something for everyone, Sakura was hit with the memory of when her father had brought over his 'friends' and forced her to act like a maid, rubbing the back of her neck she followed the line of the scar she got on that night.

"Where did you get that scar from?" Tobi must have caught sight, she sighed as she went and grabbed the necessary ingredients for whatever meal she was cooking.

"My father" she stated, she felt the heat form their stares on her neck where her scar resided. She heard Hidan curse; the shark-like man made a similar comment while Tobi was silent like the other two in the room.

"You were abused?" the stitched man question, Sakura turned to him with a glare.

"yes"


	2. Blind Strength

First birth

When Hiroshi discovered his wife was pregnant he was delighted, when he found out that his child was a girl he was grinning more than the Cheshire cat, when he saw his daughter had _pink_ hair he was happy that his daughter was unique, but when he learned that she was born blind he worried for her.

His beloved wife, Naoki, recognized this because her family were known for their beautiful green eyes, he should know since he fell for them, but instead of forest or jade their daughter had pale eyes. They weren't white but they were a misty pale green that told a different story, his child was blind.

Her pink hair he could tell was just the mix of his family's white hair and Naoki's red, her skin was pale like any child and she seemed completely healthy. She would have made a fine ninja had her eyes not been born such a way, he himself was a ninja and hoped to train her but the infant's career had ended long before it began.

"Oh Hiroshi" was all Naoki could mutter, his wife had wanted to turn their child into a well polished doll and he wanted to turn her into a warrior but they had agreed on both. Now she would barely be able to find a husband.

"I know, we'll take care of her" he kissed his wife's head; sitting on the white hospital bed he stared at his little flower, his little cherry blossom.

"I know just what to name her" his wife looked at him curiously, obviously hoping it wasn't something stupid like the list of names he thought up before.

"Sakura" he stated quietly as he petted his daughter, Sakura's eyes opened and stared ahead curiously, and she didn't cry or wail. She just stared even as he grinned to himself; he had seen that stare in his family before.

Sakura was _definitely_ a Haruno.

Age four

Little Sakura traced her hand along the wall, letting it guide her to the stairs, and made her way to the kitchen. Hearing her mother making breakfast, smelling the bacon and cheese omelet she could identify each and every spice and herb her mother used to enrich the meal, hearing the crumpling of the newspaper her father was reading at the second seat away from the head of the table.

"Good morning" Sakura said audibly, her mother whipped her head around to see her by the sounds of ruffling clothes and kitchen utensils banging together. The sound of wood tapping allowed her to walk towards the table and stop just before it.

"Good morning Sakura, did you sleep well?" her father asked pleasantly, she could tell he was smiling at her with his white hair still in its messy style from sleep and blue eyes practically glowing. She didn't know these colors but she tried to imagine them, trying to imaging her mothers' green eyes and red hair swaying in a morning breeze as her father laughed loudly at something.

"I did, I dreamed of a big waterfall and that I was flying over it!" she said excitedly, her father laughed happily and Sakura could sense her mothers' smile. Eating in a compatible silence they moved to the lounge room where Sakura immediately asked her father to tell her another story from his ninja travels, he always did and she couldn't help but imagine herself in battle instead of her father. A pink haired warrior, though she didn't know what pink even looks like, fighting with strength and grace.

"Mother, may I go outside, please?" Sakura asked timidly, it was no secret that she loved the feel of the sun, wind, grass, dirt, water and anything else she could touch that wasn't inside. Allowing her to go to the backyard Naoki held Sakura's hand and let her sit amongst the grass and flowers.

Sakura grinned as she titled her head up, pretending to look up at the sky. Sometimes her parents would say that she didn't look or act blind at all and that was _exactly_ what she was aiming for, because you can't be a ninja until you can fool everyone. No one, except her parents and a select few, knew she was blind or existed all together.

Laying down she spread her arms out and let the sun caress her skin. She wanted to be a ninja but she knew her parents were far to protective to believe that small, weak, fragile, blind Sakura could be able to handle it. Turning her head to the side she let the grass slide across her face.

There she heard something, and felt it. She could hear the stranger walking briskly on the other side of her fence, the sound and vibrations faded shortly afterwards. She heard a knock and knew it was the front door, her mother left to answer the door but called for Sakura to stay there.

Sakura remained still, trying her hardest to feel her mothers' footsteps and hear the deep 'thump' sound the earth gives. She could hear multiple footsteps but couldn't feel anything, and the sound was confusing because she couldn't discern her mother from any of the voices that erupted pleasantly from the house.

"Hey, you!" Sakura jumped slightly when she heard the strangers voice; it was a girl, about her age she would guess but could barely tell it came from the fence, turning to the fence she pointed to herself.

"Yeah you! Have you seen a blonde man walked this way?" she called out and Sakura pondered, could it have been the brisk walking person.

"Would he have been walking briskly?" she asked, the girl made an affirmative sound and Sakura nodded in response. Pointing in the general direction he went the girl must have beamed at her as she yelled thanks and began running as fast she could in the same direction.

"Sakura, are you all right?" her mother called out. Sakura just said she heard some kids running past the fence playing, her mother dropped the subject and introduced a man named Shikaku Nara and that he was a friend of the family.

Greeting him as best as a blind girl could she was led back inside, sitting on the couch Sakura listened with incredible hearing for a four-year-old. Recognizing the smell of every drink the adults opened, Sakura quietly pondered if they knew of her intellect.

She was smart for her age, very smart, and very quiet. Her father had told her that a key part to being a ninja was being silent, but ninja could use chakra to help them with stealth and other such things.

Eventually the visitor left and Sakura's father came to give her a Braille book, Sakura smiled in thanks and began reading as her father sat next to her. After only a few minutes Sakura stopped and sighed, her father must have looked curiously at her.

"Father, can I learn how to use chakra?" she could tell her father had faltered by the way silence fell on them.

"W-why do want to-"

"So that way I can see better" the little pinkette said with a determined air about her, she didn't know where her confidence came from but she wasn't going ask. There was a long pause and all sorts of scenarios ran through her mind, would he say no? Would they not let her out of their sight now? Would her life be plagued by more rules?

"Sounds like a good idea" Sakura noticeably relaxed at her fathers words, smiling she set her book down and turned to face him. He explained what chakra was in full detail and compared it to his stories, once he was confident she understood the concept he began to teach her.

Age six

Sakura smiled as she walked down one of the many stone paths the park had to offer, her eyes were open and you wouldn't guess she was blinder than a moonless night. She had taken her shoes off, her parents were talking to some friends and let Sakura go as long as she stayed on the paths, and with her shoes off she could see the world in her own little way.

Without needing to use chakra anymore she could sense vibrations from the most minuscule movements and her brain would then make mental layout of the area, up to about twelve meters it began to get blurry and at sixteen she couldn't see any further, letting her feet follow the stone path she must have come across a playground because she heard a lot of screaming and laughing.

The noise made Sakura pause; the vibrations seemed to reach her even though it shouldn't have, after some thinking she concluded that since the vibrations were louder they traveled further. Her body froze when she noticed a group of girls walking in her direction with confident strides.

"Hey pinky!" the head of the group called, she guessed 'pinky' was her since her parents told her she had pink hair. She knew it was an odd color because the adults had muttered things like that when they thought she couldn't hear.

"Yes?" she asked politely and shifted when the girl took an aggressive stance.

"I haven't seen you around here before, who are you?" she asked, Sakura stayed polite but she would admit she felt a little nervous talking to a stranger without her parents, even though they were her age. Dropping those thoughts she chastised herself, she was going to be a ninja and ninja's can take care of themselves.

"Sakura Haruno, you?" the girl grinned haughtily; Sakura didn't need to sense anything to know she was grinning. Without answering the girl stepped forwards and poked Sakura in the forehead, blinking at the action Sakura 'looked' at her curiously.

"I think I like billboard-brow! Look at your forehead!" she laughed and the girls joined her, earning many of the other kids to look in their direction, Sakura on the other hand tilted her head.

"What about my forehead?" she asked and the girls paused, the leader put one hand on her hip as she pointed at Sakura's face.

"Its huge! You look weird" she stated, moving to poke her again Sakura slapped the hand away. Her parents have always been strong and she would do the same, she would not let these girls pick on her.

The girl called out in surprise and retracted her hand; growling she moved to push Sakura but the pinkette stepped to the side quickly and the girl stumbled forward, but did not fall.

"Stupid! Your not supposed to move!" she called out and tried again, her lackey's either spurring her on or throwing insults at the blind girl.

But no matter how fast the girl tried she couldn't push Sakura, growing frustrated she tried to hit or kick her. Sakura simply dodged and sidestepped the bratty girl, marveling at how she could predict her movements and avoid them perfectly, she bet kids her age couldn't do this!

Sakura heard her mother calling and immediately turned in the direction of the voice, still dodging, and called out to her mother. She noticed how the girls had run back to the playground when she did. Sakura was a bit disappointed at that, she wanted to dodge and weave some more!

"There you are, why do you have your shoes off?" her mother questioned and the pinkette mentally yelled every curse a six-year-old would know, coming up with an excuse suddenly she spoke calmly.

"So I can feel the stone road" she said and her mother nodded, lifting her up she took her home.

When nighttime came Sakura sneaked out through her window and went to the nearest training ground, carrying a small bag on her back. Once there she grabbed a bunch of kunai she had found laying around and started throwing them, then using shuriken and then with senbon needles, missing most times. She _is _a six-year-old after all.

After repeating the procedure multiple times she began running laps, only able to do two and a half because her small body and large training area. She then did push-ups and then went to one of the training stumps to practice punches and kicks, she had been doing this since she had been able to trust her new sight about a year after her dad started training her.

Going back to her bag she rested and ate a small snack, she thought of how to get into the Ninja Academy. She could pretend she wasn't blind to the point where she had fooled most of the ninja that aren't close to her father; her parents don't really talk about her.

Sakura froze when she sensed a familiar chakra, it had flared which means he already seen her. Bowing her head she turned to face her father, she didn't need eyes to tell he was angry.

"Sakura Haruno, _what_ are you doing at the training grounds this late?" he commanded but she could tell he was trying not to yell. Fidgeting she looked up at him, though really all she was looking at was darkness.

"Training" she stated, he seemed to bristle at her words.

"You know your not meant to be up this late" he said through gritted teeth, running a hand through his hair he gestured for her come to him so he could carry her home. Sakura actually _glared_ and took a defiant step back.

"No, I want to be a ninja and I _will_ be a ninja, only a few know that I'm blind and people won't guess because I'm good at pretending, the teachers won't tell the difference" she explained and she could see her fathers frown, knowing this would be a lengthy discussion he sat down.

"What about notes? Or when the teacher gives a demonstration?" he questioned and Sakura grinned.

"Ino, she's a friend I made at the park, I've kept it from you so you won't get the chance to talk her out of it. She has been teaching the hand signs and other stuff, she's going to help me keep up my 'I'm-not-blind' façade, she's my best friend and I trust her" Sakura retorted, that was one of her secret weapons and she knew that her father would shoot more at her.

"What about reading scrolls? Your friend wont be able to help you with those all the time" he challenged and Sakura accepted.

"The senior librarian used to be a ninja before he lost half his sight and his left foot, he promised to help me since he knows how I feel" Sakura crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow at him as though to ask 'any more stupid questions?' but her father asked only one.

"What about your mother?" he whispered. Sakura remained quiet, she hadn't thought of that and really regretted not coming up with a plan.

"Don't worry, we'll convince her" Hiroshi muttered as he swooped Sakura up, grabbing her bag he made his way home with the little bundle in his arms smiling brightly at him.

First Day at the Academy

"All right Sakura, try not to start trouble on your first day, have fun" her father said, a backpack slung over his shoulder. He had been called on a mission but had time to see her off her on her first day of the academy, it had taken so long to convince Sakura's mother to let her train to be a ninja but after two hours of negotiating and arguing Naoki eventually yielded and allowed Sakura to go to the academy.

"I promise daddy, bye mummy, love you both!" she called out as she ran down the road, expertly dodging the civilians walking around. She kept running until she reached the flower shop just as Ino left the door.

"Ino-Chan!" Sakura called, Ino smiled and waved enthusiastically. Ino wanted to be an interrogator like her father but also wanted to use poison in battles, Sakura liked the idea and asked if she could too, Ino of course thought it would be a good idea and therefor dubbed them the 'Poison Flowers Of Konoha' and Sakura had to admit she liked the name.

"Excited or nervous?" Ino asked as they walked to the academy together, the small pinkette replied with excited and the two started talking. First about what its going to like in the academy, then about weapons and techniques, then about coordinating their attacks together and then they started talking about things like matching outfits and after that they talked about whatever came to mind.

"Oh! Oh! Sakura look that way!" Ino said excitedly, even though she knew she was blind they agreed to use things like 'look' and 'come see' so that way no one would guess she was blind, obeying her friend she looked and 'saw' a young boy who's hair reminded her of a ducks ass, or a chickens ass… either one.

"Isn't he just the coolest thing!" Ino gushed and Sakura decided to be cheeky.

"I've seen better" the blind girl stated with a shrug, Ino stared at her for a long time, not knowing that everyone had heard and were staring wide-eyed as well. After a while Ino and Sakura broke out into rich laughter, Ino commenting with 'I'm sure you have' when they could breath and they started all over again. There happiness, however, was broken by an enraged fangirl.

"Sasuke is second to no one! There's no way you could have seen anyone better!" she screeched and Sakura winced at the painful pitch. She hoped that girl grew out of that; otherwise she would never have a real relationship.

"Then why is he hiding behind a bunch of fangirls?" Sakura questioned and when no one answered the pinkette simply walked away, Ino bursting out into laughter once more and followed her pink haired friend. The blonde girl silently vowed that she wouldn't become a fangirl; she would be like Sakura and stay true to her ninja path.

"Welcome class! My name is Iruka and I will be your teacher until you graduate" a ponytail-haired male smiled brightly, she could sense a scar or something on his nose. Ino whispered to her that he had brown hair and confirmed that he had a scar across his nose.

Iruka asked everyone to give and introduction and by the time they finished it was recess, Ino and Sakura took to the roof for privacy.

"Ok, here are the people to look out for" Ino said as they sat down "Sasuke Uchiha: black hair, you can tell the hairstyle, and he's a total hotty! You know about their eyes so I don't have to explain that, though since this morning I've noticed how arrogant he is" Ino muttered as she ate, Sakura asked for the next person and Ino grinned.

"Hinata Hyuuga: very shy and her hair almost seems to be violet or blue, she has this _huge_ crush on Naruto but he's to dense to notice, you know about the Hyuuga's and their eyes right right?" Sakura nodded "Next class up is Neji, Hinata's year older cousin and he's really cold and mean, saying stuff like 'you will never amount to anything, it is your fate' and stuff like that" Ino ranted about how all the hot guys were either cold, mean or stupid.

Sakura was a little nervous, the Hyuuga's and the Uchiha's would be able to tell if she was blind and she had both in her class and in a class just a year older, they would mix class spar's sometimes so she could only hope they won't figure it out.

"Anyways, next one. Naruto Uzumaki: he has blonde hair and wears a lot of orange and he's the 'dead last', an idiot but he's determined and daddy said that he has naturally huge chakra reserves but he's a prankster and can't control his chakra very well and isn't the best fighter and isn't very good at jutsu's, nor is he textbook smart" Ino elaborated, they both chuckled when they remembered Naruto's intro and how he made a fool of himself.

Ino set about explaining everyone else, their appearances and so forth, taking her time with some while cutting it short with others. Shikamaru was a lazy genius and they would have to watch him, his friend Choji was strong in many ways though he was fat but never mention it around him cause he gets angry, Kiba was a lot like an animal and always has this brown and white dog, Akamaru, who is forever loyal to him, and Shino is a boy who loves bugs and can use them in battle but otherwise not much is known about him. The two above their grade was a weapon mistress with her hair tied in two bun and Lee, a taijutsu specialist with a bowel cut and bushy eyebrows.

"Okay, that's everyone to really look out for, the others should be easy to deal with" Ino took a deep breath, never had Ino been glad to be finished talking, but you know what they say: there's a first time for everything!

They ate and talked about their classmates and the cool or lame things about them, shortly after the bell signaled everyone to return to class.

When Sakura walked home she walked tall and proud, true her secret had almost been found out at least twice but hey, Ino and herself had been able to keep it under wraps.

With written tests, as they discussed at lunch, her father would ask for a copy to look over and when he did he would make a copy only as a Braille sheet, Sakura would switch when Iruka wasn't looking or was scolding Naruto and that would be that. Ino and Sakura sat in the back row, far corner from the door by the window so they couldn't be caught, Sakura sat on the edge while Ino sat next to her so nobody could sit next to them and see.

Grinning to herself the pink haired child took off as fast as she could home, her mother would be waiting to hear how her first day went, she thanked any and every deity that may be listening. Thanked them for this chance, for her mother and father, even for her blindness because if she wasn't blind then things would have been different, and she was glad things had turned out this way.

Graduation

When Sakura's alarm went off she tapped the bedside table it sat on to tell the time, the hand of the old clock indicated six o'clock in the morning, Sakura glared at the stupid thing as she raised a hand to smash it only to pause mid-descent when she remembered _why_ it ringed so early in the morning.

Today she was graduating from Ninja Academy.

Lunging out of bed she had an extra long shower, spent extra time on her short hair and more time picking out her outfit, though she ended up with sticking with the usual.

She dressed in a black turtleneck sweater with no sleeves and added black fishnet gloves that reached her elbow, a knee-length dark grey skirt that had slits up the sides with black leggings underneath and the typical ninja sandals. Her weapon pouch stored comfortably on her right thigh, smiling at herself she left to the kitchen to make a simple breakfast for her parents. Making some onigiri for herself she ate most, taking a quick 'glance' at the clock she decided it was a good idea to get going, grabbing the last rice ball she left a 'good bye, thank you, love you both' note on the table and walked out the door.

Yes she was still greatly attached to them and acted like their little girl, and could you blame her? They let their only _blind _child into a _ninja_ school; of course she loved them! And she took every chance to show them how much she loved them. Even at age twelve she knew how easy it was to lose something precious. Sakura traced the rim of her left eye; she wondered what it would be like to see. Shaking her head of those thoughts she nibbled on the last of her onigiri, the academy came into view and she quickened her pace _just_ a smidge.

She waited outside the flower shop, it was a ritual between the two; if one came before the other they would wait at the front of the flower shop, and true to tradition Ino walked through the door with a smile on her face. Sakura mimicked the action before they raced each other to the Academy.

"I totally beat you, Ino-Chan"

"No way, you must be going blind Sakura, I was clearly ahead of you" Ino remarked and Sakura grinned, to a normal blind person it would be insulting but it was just playful banter for the two girls, sitting where they usually sit they let the day begin, knowing today they would be given the official rank of genin.

Teams

Sakura sighed, Ino had told her that she would be a little late and to go on ahead of her, Sakura did this and walking without her felt a little more than odd, it felt almost unnatural.

Now she was sitting in her usual back seat while the students began to pile, she didn't have to have sight to know Sasuke entered; the girls were gushing and squealing and she understood why he hated fangirls but _she_ hated _him_ because_ he_ treated _everyone_ like fangirls, _including her_. The smug bastard actually thinks that she likes him _and_ he thinks she has perfectly normal sight, dumbass. Get your brain checked and get the hell out.

He grunted or something at the show of affection and sat down in front of her, she glared at his back but quickly opted for turning her face to the warm morning sun.

Ino came in quickly saying that her father had made her cook breakfast for him since she stole his body the morning before and made him do all sorts of stuff, granted it didn't last long but what she managed to do to him made Sakura laugh, forgiving her friend they sat in a comfortable silence until one Naruto Uzumaki waltzed into the room.

Now Sakura couldn't have cared less about the boys common quarrels but when Naruto jumped on Sasuke's desk and crouched dangerously close to his face while they glared at each other the pinkette could already see what would happen if someone just nudge-

The pale-eyed girl stared at the scene that she had just 'witnessed' right there in front of her. A boy sitting in front of Sasuke got up to watch the potential brawl and accidentally bumped Naruto, thus propelling him forward just that smidge so he lost his footing and collided into the Uchiha… in the most hilarious of ways.

Naruto had accidentally _kissed_ Sasuke and both stayed like that for a few seconds in pure shock, after the third second passed she began to wonder if they were gay or enjoying the kiss, she actually considered the idea that they would break into a heated make-out session but it never occurred. By the fourth second they parted, spitting and gaging all grossed out, Sakura outright laughed right then and there. Ino was still in shock.

"Alright class, quiet down! I will be announcing the teams" Iruka called out, this saved Naruto a beating from Sasuke's fangirls and saved Sakura from gaining unwanted attention. As time went on the teams were called and Sakura somewhat wondered who'd shed be paired up with.

"For team seven: Sakura Haruno…" the pinkette perked up at her name, listening intently for who's she'd be teamed with.

"Naruto Uzumaki…" Sakura nodded respectively, she respected him and wouldn't mind him on her team. After all, who was she to judge?

"And Sasuke Uchiha" Sakura and Naruto froze, the Uchiha just grunted dismissively; causing the blonde to snap out of his trance and glare at him.

"Iruka-sensei! Why do I have to stuck with him?" Naruto called out, pointing rudely at the raven-haired boy. Sasuke glared at him and Sakura now regretted having Naruto on her team, wait scratch that, she regretted having Sasuke on her team because he was arrogant and would no doubt see them as burdens, not even worth his time.

Iruka told Naruto that Sasuke had the highest overall marks while he had the lowest, Sakura evened it out because apparently she needed more time to learn new things. During her time as a student here Iruka picked up on her slow learning on practical lessons and allowed her extra time and thus giving the impression she was more a mind ninja than a body ninja.

Naruto appeared to be sedated for the most part and the rest of the teams were called out, Ino tapped her shoulder and quietly chatted how it was disappointing that the 'Poison Flowers of Konoha' weren't in the same team, Sakura then said it was better so they could grow and the third member could actually _be _a member. This cheered Ino up for the most part, listening to their last-day-teacher telling them that their 'new sensei's would meet them later on so stay here and wait for them' which Sakura felt a little worried about since she would be stuck with a hyperactive orange clad child and a stick-up-the-ass emo Uchiha.

Team by team they left with their new sensei, her group had waited two hours and he still was a no-show, and with the rest of the students gone Sakura slowly shifted from curious, to concerned, to worried, to bored, to annoyed and then back to bored.

"He's late!" Naruto practically yelled, the pinkette near him gave Naruto a look that screamed _'no shit Sherlock'_ and moved her unusually pale eyes to the window, she did that a lot. Though she wasn't really looking at anything, but he supposed it was better than staring at the chalkboard, the raven-haired youth glared at the blonde.

"Naruto, what are doing?" Sakura asked in a half-bored half-mildly interested tone without looking away from the window. He wondered how she could do that; he didn't sense her using chakra yet it was like she didn't need eyes at all, like the very _air_ acted like her eyes. Naruto had said something about punishment for being late; Sasuke didn't really care what the dobe did, as long as it didn't get in his way.

He heard Sakura mutter something about crazy blondes, Sasuke had to agree with her. Sakura was always with her friend Ino who was just insane and Naruto was just an idiot, so he was somewhat surprised at her mellow behavior. Instead of chastising him and yelling at Naruto to not be so childish and gushing and swooning over him like most females do, she was watching the outside world. More interested with what lay beyond the glass than him or Naruto's prank, and it irked him a bit.

"An elite shinobi would never fall for something so juvenile" the dark haired boy said, Naruto said something but he wasn't listening. The door began to slide open, revealing gravity defying silver hair and a masked face; the chalkboard eraser fell and landed on the Jounins' head, there was a pause before Naruto broke into loud howling laughter. He heard Sakura give a quiet giggle; he just thought that this shinobi should be dead by now if he can't dodge one of Naruto's pranks.

"My first impression on you guys: I hate you" he stated after he picked up the eraser, Naruto stopped laughing and Sakura looked away from her window while he lifted his head towards the man, he spoke when he was sure he had their attention.

"We'll be having our team meeting on the roof, see you there" he said and then poofed away. Sasuke mildly wondered how he did that but didn't dwell on it since he would learn it soon enough, whether the Jounin taught him or he simply finds out on his own.

When they made it the roof Sakura truly envied those with sight, the view must have been wonderful. With a sigh she plumped down on a stone step, their sensei already there, leaning casually against the railing while he read some book. The lean male looked up and smiled.

"Now, we'll start with introductions" he stated, Sakura tilted her head slightly, wanting to keep the façade.

"Introductions? What are we supposed to say?" she asked and she inwardly winced, she sounded like Naruto.

"Stuff like your name, hobbies, interests, likes, dislikes, dreams etc." he said, Naruto then chipped in a suggestion that was pretty smart.

"Why don't you start sensei?" he cheered and the Jounin closed his book, looking up he began.

"My name is Kakashi Hatake, I like a lot of things and I hate a lot of things, my interests… yeah, my dreams? Never really thought about it, as for my hobbies… I have lots of hobbies" the three twelve-year-old's just stared at him unimpressed, Sakura lent over to Naruto who was on her right.

"He basically only told us his name" she whispered and Naruto nodded, Kakashi gestured to the blonde boy.

"Alright, how about you go first" he said and Naruto grinned as he started talking, messing with his headband the whole time.

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki, I like ramen and combining ramen to experiment the taste, I hate the three minutes it takes for instant ramen to cook, my interests are ramen, training and pranks, my hobbies are pranking, eating ramen at Ichiraku's and training. My dream is to become Hokage someday so that everyone will have to stop disrespecting me and acknowledge me!" he finished with a grin. Sakura was staring at him, she liked his dream and reasons for said dream but… he said all of that in one breath!

"Ok… pinky your up next" he pointed to the pinkette and she tapped her chin in thought.

"My name is Sakura Haruno, I love my parents, training and doing whatever I can during both day and night, I hate people who judge by looks and people who don't believe I can be a ninja, my hobbies are training, reading, looking for new jutsu's, hanging out with Ino and training with her, my interest's are about the same and my dream" she looked at everyone individually before landing on Kakashi _"is to prove everyone wrong"_

Everyone paused at her words but she just brushed them off, turning to Sasuke she said it was his turn.

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha, I don't particularly like a lot of things and I hate most things, I don't have a dream because I will make it a reality: I will gain my fathers respect and surpass my brother" he stated in a flat voice and Sakura had to hold herself from screaming 'emo!' at him.

Kakashi had to resist the urge to sigh; the two boys were exactly what he expected, but Sakura… he expected her to say stuff around the lines of 'I love Sasuke and my dream is to marry him' or something, and her dream: to prove everyone wrong. What did that mean? He stared at the pinkette for sometime, but what caught his eyes were her own; they were pale, with the slightest tinge of green, like they had lost their color.

The Jounins' eyes widened at the realization, he would have to tell the Hokage. But shouldn't the Hokage already know? And if that's the case why did he let her in the Academy in the first place?

"Right well with that done, I forgot something at the Hokage's office, lets go" he said as he stood, the girl had a hidden reaction but he caught it.

"Why do we have to go if you need it?" Sakura asked in an annoyed voice, but he could pick up the panic that was well hidden.

"Because I said so" he said with a smile before jumping off the railing, Naruto yelled in surprise, and he started walking to Kage tower with his three disciples trailing after him.

"This is so stupid! We should be training right now, not visiting the old man!" Naruto whined but Sakura had tuned him out long ago. Her eyes were trained on the Kage tower, during her years she had been able to avoid a meeting with him for the simple reason that one look at her eyes and he would know that she's blind.

The building became larger like an ominous presence as they got closer, Sakura could only pray that the Kage kept his eyes on the Jounin, the loud mouth blonde, or the brooding emo-boy. She would remain quiet and insignificant, which shouldn't be too hard.

They reached the gate and were able to pass without hindrance, they moved up the stairs quickly but for the pinkette it was like time had decided to be cruel and slowed down. When they finally reached the door it felt like two hours had passed, when in reality it had only been two minutes.

Kakashi knocked thrice before entering, when Sakura entered the room with her team she regretted not running while she had the chance. The room was full of councilors, Anbu, ninja teachers, the elders, some high-ranking medics and a bunch of other ninja including the Hokage himself.

"Hello Kakashi, what brings you here?" he asked but the silent language of Kakashi's eyes and subtle movements told him something was wrong with one of his students, the Hokage glanced at everyone of them.

The Uchiha seemed perfectly fit and able, Naruto was the same as ever and the pink haired girl… so that's why he came.

"I see, you three, can you please step forward" they obeyed; Sakura silently wondered what the old man was going to do. He started with Sasuke and asked simple questions, he answered them and once finished was asked to step back. Same thing happened with Naruto, but when it was Sakura turn she realized she was on her own and her Jounin sensei behind her would stop he from running out the door. Surprisingly he asked similar questions, and when it drawled to the end Sakura thought she just might get out alive, until he asked the question she dreaded the most.

"When did you become blind?" he asked and the room was filled with a heavy silence, _everyone_ stared at the Hokage and then turned their eyes to her. She looked down a little and took a calming breath; she would have to fight this battle earlier than she thought.

"The day I was born" she stated, everyone broke into an eruption of murmur's and whispers until the Kage lifted a hand to silence them.

"Then how can you see?" he asked and Sakura sighed.

"I don't 'see' the way you do, these sandals are made especially for my feet, because I see with my feet, I use vibrations and movements to see" she explained and everyone was a mix of disbelieving and amazed.

"How did you come about this discovery?"

"When I was four, I noticed that you can hear footsteps through the earth, since then I have been practicing and now no longer even need to use chakra" she stated flatly, though she was blind she stared _strait_ at the Hokage, daring him to strip her of her title.

"Iruka, did you have any knowledge of her condition?" all eyes turned to the brown haired teacher and he shook his head.

"She acted like most kids, you wouldn't have guessed she was blind, and clearly I didn't" he said with his head bowed slightly. Everyone turned they're eyes to the Hokage once again, silently asking what would happen to her.

"Do you believe you are capable to continue your ninja path?" he asked and Sakura stood strait with a confident smile gracing her lips.

"I _know_ I am _more_ than capable" she stated calmly, smoothly, and in a tone that had many convinced.

"No!" the head doctor stood "you are blind, you shouldn't be a ninja its far to dangerous for you, it would be suicide for a blind girl to be ninja! You should be at home being cared to!" the man ranted, Sakura turned her pale eyes to him and _glared_, and when a blind girl glares _directly_ at you… it is unnervingly _terrifying_.

"It _would_ be suicide for any _normal_ blind girl, but I have been training the entirety of my life, you shouldn't be challenging me because I already _am_ a ninja, by all means I have just proven that just because I'm blind doesn't mean I'm helpless!" she growled at the medic, the man looked ready to lash out but the Kage stopped him.

"It's true, she has passed the academy with flying colors, her Haiti-ate proves it" the old man said as he pointed to the headband tied to keep her hair back.

"Well then, Kakashi thank you for visiting, miss Haruno may I see you afterwards?" he asked and the pinkette could only nod, she had done it! She'd be able to continue being a ninja even though she's blind!

Following her teammates she went out the door, once they we're a safe distance away from the tower Sakura started grinning like she had won the lotto. They continued walking until they came to a bridge by one of the many training grounds, Sakura noted that this one is the same one she practices with her father, which means that her house wasn't far from here.

"Okay, this is going to be our meeting point, now tomorrow we'll be having survival training, oh and don't have breakfast because… you'll puke" he waved before poofing away, Sakura simply started walking home.

"Hey wait!" the pinkette halted in her steps and sighed at the Uchiha's voice, _of course_. Turning around she looked at him with her pale eyes, looking none to friendly.

"What?" she asked and she could fell the irritation coming off him in waves, though she didn't know why.

"How do you do it?" he asked, Sakura tilted her head.

"How do I do what?" she asked and Sasuke growled at her but elaborated.

"How do you see? Your blind yet all these years you have rarely been hit, you know where everyone and everything is, how?" Sakura stared at him blankly, though her eyes showed her anger at him.

"A lifetime of practice" she stated, staring at him.

"Don't pretend to stare at me! I know you can't see me!" he almost yelled, but Sakura didn't flinch.

"But I can see you, we just have different ways off seeing, you don't need eyes to see the world" she said calmly before turning and continuing her trek home.

"Hey wait Sakura-Chan! I'll walk you home!" Naruto came running but stopped when Sakura glared.

"I don't need to be walked home, not since I was four years old" turning around she walked faster. She couldn't believe it, before they found out Naruto had barely spoken a word to her and Sasuke didn't believe she was worth his acknowledgement, but _now_ they look and talk to her. But that's not the worst part, Naruto had showed what she _knew_ the rest of her 'team' would do; they would start treating her like a little fragile doll that couldn't take care of herself. Well… fuck them.

Opening the door Sakura announced she was home before going up the stairs and decided that having a shower would help calm her down, she wanted to kill those boys for treating her like a ninja and then treating her like… like… like a _blind_ girl!

Sighing the girl exited the shower and changed into some casual clothes, she needed to talk to Ino. At least _she_ understood her, plus they needed to work on some new moves and no doubt Ino had some crazy idea that she would want Sakura to rationalize as a doable technique.

Grabbing some ninja gear she leapt from her balcony and made her way to Ino's, she hoped they could train because she was in need of some serious venting.

Ino threw a handful of kunai with a special trinket attached to it, it hit the target a good distance away, she and Sakura were standing a safe distance away, Sakura threw her own with their specially designed explosive tag attached. The kunai exploded on contact, the explosion increased ten-fold from the trinket and the girls grinned at their success, they had been working on that explosive formula for weeks.

"Safe to say that works" Ino said as the smoke cleared, Sakura nodded in return. They had been training with their poisons, moves, and synchronized fighting for the passed few hours and it was now nighttime, the girls wanted to test a new explosive before they left. So far it works great!

"So let me get this strait: the Hokage found out, the head medic went all prissy saying you should be home being cared for and your not sure about your team yet but you think they'll treat you like a normal blind girl" the blonde summarized and her pink haired companion nodded.

"Pretty much" Sakura sighed as she leaned against a tree; she was exhausted from their training session. Ino sighed and joined her friend, looking up at the starless sky.

"I wish there was a way for you to see, just for a short time at least" Ino muttered, it was a secret between the two that Sakura did actually want to see like normal people, at least once, for a short time.

"Your not the only one" Sakura muttered and stood, smiling at her friend she said she was going home and left, Ino followed suit heading in the opposite direction, both vaguely aware of someone watching.

"Your news?" the Kage asked a man clad in black, Anbu, retold what had happened after the meeting, the Kage sighed. He expected the reaction from her teammates, though he didn't expect Ino to be involved, even if it made sense why she spent so much time with the pink haired wonder.

"Thank you Anbu-san" the old man said and the dark clad ninja vanished. The Kage looked up through the large window of his office, the girl managed to fool everyone into believing that she had perfect eyesight, smiling to himself the old Kage turned back to the thing every Kage despises more than anything else: paperwork.

When morning came Sakura prepared for the day, remembering what Kakashi said she decided to have a _big_ breakfast for the simple reason she didn't believe him.

He said they would puke, and everyone said blind people couldn't be ninja's.

Bull. Shit.

She finally arrived at the bridge to see Sasuke there; jumping onto one of the gates of the bridge she closed her eyes. Hearing Sasuke mutter something like 'you should quit' she opened one eye and peered at him.

"What?" she asked, he glared up at her before speaking properly.

"Your going to get yourself hurt, or worse killed, you should quit now" Sakura outright laughed at his words.

"You really are a dumbass" he bristled at her words "in case you forgot, Uchiha, everybody dies. Ninja's, blind or not, _will_ get hurt and will probably die during a mission, my eyesight has nothing to do with it, and one more thing: I've been blind all my life yet I am one of the best fighters, I can see just fine, and I don't need to be babied by some egotistic emo boy who cant tell the difference between eye conditions" she retorted with a smirk, Sasuke growled at her words.

"And don't say you don't want me to get hurt or some shit, I know you don't care. You don't even see me as a teammate" she said, she then took notice of the two men hiding amongst the trees "You can come out now, I know your there" she called out staring exactly where they were hiding.

Their chakra flared slightly but they walked out nonetheless, she noticed that the two strangers had many similarities between her teammate and themselves.

"If I had to guess, you're the brats relatives?" she questioned.

"I am his older brother, Itachi"

"And I am his father Fugaku"

"Sakura" she announced, she turned her head back to the sky and closed her eyes.

"So you're the blind girl that's been partnered with my son" he stated and Sakura nodded.

"If your gonna make a speech about how I better not hold your son back then you can leave, I'll treat him like a teammate but my respect for him depends on how much he shows me" she said, smirking when she felt the aggression rolling off the oldest Uchiha.

"Have you no respect for the Uchiha clan?" Itachi asked passively, Sakura chuckled out her response.

"No" her blatant reply made two of the Uchiha's bristle in indignation "I can see you bristling at me" she stated and the other Sasuke snapped and tried to attack her, she simply rolled off her perch, eyes still closed. Landing silently on the bridge in a crouched position.

"I actually expected you to last a little longer" Sakura said, as she stood strait, not even turning to face him. Sasuke growled and threw punches and kicks at her but she easily avoided every one, she sighed and flipped backwards; landing one her hands she kicked the youngest Uchiha in the chin.

Sakura landed in a crouched position but allowed gravity to push her into a sitting position, she crossed her legs and Sasuke landed on the ground with a hard 'thud'.

"Damn it" he growled, and Sakura could feel the glare he sent her way.

"You own fault, you underestimated your opponent, and no matter how strong you are, _that_ can be fatal" Sakura said, leaning back and enjoyed the sun. She heard the two males who were observing walk over to them.

"How did you avoid my sons attacks? They were executed perfectly" Fugaku said, frustration lacing his words. Sakura sighed in annoyance; she had a feeling she was going to hear this a lot in the coming future.

"I thought Sasuke would have told you. I see though my very skin, vibrations, wind even. That and chakra, anything else?"


	3. Dancing Blossom

"All right! We totally kicked ass!" a brown haired boy named Daren jumped in the air, fist pumping all the while. A dark haired girl that went by the name Kristy smirked as she carried the briefcase of money that they had won, illegally of course.

"Don't yell to loud, you'll attract coppers, dumbass" a blonde haired girl slapped him upside the head, a rifle on her back.

"So, Sakura-sama, where to now?" Kristy asked. Sakura was the pink haired leader of their little group of illegal street dancers, and they were good at it. They had met in primary school, Sakura being bullied along with the rest of them; the pinkette had been the first to stand up against the bullies.

Ever since then it had been them and them alone, by high school everyone was already scared shitless of their strength and when Daren and his brown haired brother Jack offered street dancing everyone agreed in a heart beat.

"We'll go to The House first and then Jack can scan the area for anymore jumps" the pinkette said. By 'jumps' she meant by dance competitions, they're group ruled the darker part of town and they never hesitated to prove it, they stopped hearts with their dances… literally.

Heart Stop, that was their group and they were famous. Bounty wise the group was worth roughly 600 000 yen, they had killed as well but no one knew our faces or names so everyone still went to school.

"This is the police! Put your hands up or we will open fire!" a microphone called out, lights were on them. Looked like they did know their names after all, Kristy looked at her leader who was smiling. Naturally everyone relaxed when they saw it, they knew this plan…

3

2

1

Splitting into random directions they ran, Sakura smiled at her crew as she ran. Knowing they would be fine she jumped onto a dumpster and leaped towards the railing of the emergency escape stairs, she grabbed said as her feet pressed against the underneath of the platform before pushing against it, she flipped and ended up sitting on the railing.

Smiling at the men chasing her she pushed herself off and kept leaping, from railing to window to light post to phone line to traffic lights to window and anything else that was above the ground. She knew that the police ruled the ground but up here she had a million different routes that they would struggle to follow.

She lifted her katana so it wouldn't catch on the barbed wire she was currently flying over, yes she had a bladed weapon and she knew how to use it, she also had a tanto. Her clothes consisted of a pair of baggy beige pants with a bunch of pockets and a black belt that had a belt bag to it. A black, sleeveless, skintight crop top with a red short-sleeved jacket that was rimmed white and had a white circle on the back, she had black and red shoes as well.

Her long hair was kept in a high ponytail by bandage wrapping, her hair reaching her thigh and flowing as she leapt and ran from the persistent little men in blue. Sighing she reached into her belt bag and pulled out a flash grenade, pulling the pin she flicked it behind her and made a sharp turn as it flashed.

She almost laughed at their surprised and pained screams, they were probably blind now, and made her way to the roof. They would expect her to be running as fast as she could to get away and she sure as hell wasn't going to fall for that old trap, ducking low she beeped her wristwatch to say she was in the clear.

She listened as the sirens and urgent yells faded as they left to look for her, or her crew, and she relaxed a little. Seriously, Sakura was beginning to think they just got dumber, she had pulled this trick at least _six times_ and yet they still cant believe that she is _directly above_ them? She was glad she wasn't on the 'good guys' side.

Closing her eyes she waited for her to be in the green zone, but of course something had to break her concentration. Opening her eyes she prepared a glare but instead stared wide at what she saw: a large white sphere was not three meters from her, it made no sound but a pressure definitely emitted from it, like an energy.

She rubbed her eyes and pinched herself but no, it was still there. Looking around she eventually walked up to it; walking around it a few times she stood directly in from of it. She knew this was stupid but her curiosity was eating her alive, she put her hand near it; it felt warm but not warm enough to burn.

She finally put her palm on it, her hand moved through it without any resistance. Suddenly Sakura was completely pulled in by the white light and the white ball disappeared, leaving no trace of the pink haired dancer.

When Sakura opened her eyes she expected to be at The House, not staring up at a canopy. She expected to be met with the sound of fighting and music, not the rustling of trees and sound of animals. No, Sakura was somewhere she was not meant to be… where was she?

A forest, she knew that much, the glimpses of the sun told her it was around noon and her current predicament told her she was lost. Checking her body for injuries Sakura sighed, no bone or muscles bruised or broken and she had her katana and her beige belt bag.

Standing up she dusted herself off and started in a random direction, staying on the ground was not her style and it made her vulnerable. She walked for about two hours before she heard noise, and it was heading her way.

Ducking down by a bush quickly Sakura gripped her sword. There were three of them; all reasonably large in mass and bore some sort of weapon, the familiar clinking of metal told this. They boasted about how they would raid some village that was to far away for the Hidden Village to respond before they left with their spoils.

Sakura had no idea what a Hidden Village was, nor where she was and she was beginning to question the timeline she was in. Brushing it aside she waited until they were out of hearing range, once safe she rose from her position and followed their tracks, maybe they could lead her to a town or something.

'_A base camp? Dammit!' _the pinkette thought as she spied them from her tree branch, sure normally her pink hair would be easily spotted but she had become an expert in hiding, and finding for that matter.

"Alright men, this village is far enough from the Hidden Leaf Village that we will be able to take their valuables and run off far enough to escape, and with the coming rain our scent will be washed away" the apparent leader yelled out to his men. Sakura looked up and saw that, indeed, it would rain soon and she also had to admit for a dumb looking bandit what he said was pretty smart.

"Sir" a man suddenly appeared and Sakura fought a gasp at his sudden appearance "there is a stranger hiding in that tree" the masked man said, pointing to the tree she was in. Most wouldn't hear from her distance but when your life is constantly in danger then your senses become pretty sharp, the leader smirked and stared at the tree she was in.

"Come out, we know your there!" he yelled, obviously trying to be intimidating. Seeing as there was no point in hiding Sakura leapt down, landing in a crouching position with her eyes closed. She waited a moment before opening her eyes to see arrogant and lust filled eyes, except for the masked man who looked curios and even amused. Her face remained relaxed and blank, her eyes showing mild boredom.

"Who are you?" he asked, crossing his arms to look foreboding but it did nothing for him in her eyes.

"No one who need be known if let be" she stated calmly, he seemed surprised by her answer but it quickly grew into irritation when he realized she had not answered his question.

"Don't you know whom you are speaking to?" he asked gruffly, Sakura just stared on.

"A bandit leader" she stated and he nodded, grinning arrogantly. She held back a sigh; she's cut down drug lords and politicians more humble than him.

"Yes, and you have arrived in the heart of our camp, you are severely out-numbered" everyone chuckled. Sakura stood in a battle read pose; hand on her sword handle, ready.

"But not out-classed" she stated, he and his men bristled at her short words. He yelled at one of his men to kill her, a brown haired brute stood up with a poorly cared for katana.

He ran at her, she just stood there and reached for her tanto instead. He swung and she ducked under, stabbing him in the back, which pierced the lung, he would be dead in a few minutes.

She grabbed a cloth and wiped her tanto clean of the blood but didn't sheath it, she knew better than to put away your weapon when the threat is still present. She watched and waited, soon enough more came and tried their luck, each one that challenged her died by her tanto since she had yet need to use her katana.

"Your quiet skilled in kenjutsu aren't you?" he questioned, she wasn't sure what he meant so she didn't say anything, best not to show incompetence to the enemy if one can help it.

By now over thirty bandits lay dead at her feet, wherever she has landed it sure wasn't a stranger to death and war. The leader stepped down from his stage and stood a good distance away from her, he would fight her next it seemed.

He moved and only Sakura's instinct that saved her from being impaled by a kunai, the two traded blows with neither gaining an advantage. The man threw his weapon and Sakura caught it before throwing it back, he sidestepped it and the blade dug into the tree behind him.

"For a girl you've got a lot of strength, and you don't even have chakra" he sounded impressed "tell you what, if you join me you can be second in command" he offered like it was a once in a life time offer but Sakura had been given a similar offer many times and she knew that none had intended to keep their word.

"How can I trust a man who tried to kill me?" she retorted, the leader frowned and grunted, "nevertheless I decline, I see no long term benefit" he seemed to argue but Sakura threw her tanto to stop his words and chased after her weapon, the man dodged and blocked the strong punch only to skid back and hit the tree. His head hit the hilt of her tanto and knocked him out.

Calmly walking over she retrieved her short blade and cleaned it before sheathing it, she glared at the other bandits and they backed away having lost their courage at the defeat of their leader, the masked man who had revealed her hiding place walked forward with a smile.

"Thanks for your help" he said, he was wearing a brown rag over his left eye and was wearing something similar to the rest of the thugs littering the camp, Sakura gave him a raised eyebrow and in return he pulled something out of his shirt, a metal plate attached to a long piece of blue cloth with a abstract leaf carved onto it.

"You were a Konoha ninja?" one of the men yelled, it seemed to hold great significance but Sakura really didn't care. This man had caused her unnecessary trouble and she even had to kill, sighing she check her phone while the masked ninja made some smart remark. No reception, fuck, so that means she's stuck here until she can find a way back… or bring them here.

Looking up she saw the men getting up, ready to kill the masked man by the looks in his eyes. Stepping in front of him with her hand on her tanto she glared at everyone, daring them to make a move, and they all froze.

"Sit down" she commanded and they all applied, scared for their lives, she turned to the older man "care to explain why you ratted me out?" she questioned and the silver haired male chuckled, scratching his cheek sheepishly.

"I needed a distraction to kill the gang leader and you were there, that was my mission, but I kinda lost track as I watched you fight and then you took out my target so…" he let the sentence hang there and she sighed.

"The leader still lives, he's just unconscious, you may fulfill your mission" Sakura said, he looked behind her and she turned her head and glared at the few standing up. She heard the sound of iron piercing flesh and knew the stranger had completed his mission.

"Now that that's done, shall we go?" he asked pleasantly and she nodded, going along with his act, and the two left the area while the bandits began fighting among themselves for the role of leader, they would all kill each other so they needn't worry about the village. They walked for a good few hours before he stopped and turned to her with a sheepish look, she hadn't taken her eyes off of him.

"May I change?" he asked with a chuckle, she closed her eyes and turned around. A few second later he gave the okay and she faced him, he had changed into a green jacket with many pockets and his clothes were dark. His headband covered his left eye and his mask was still in place, his face turned serious.

"Who are you?" he asked with a hard tone, it was more intimidating than the bandit leader.

"Sakura Haruno" she stated, he nodded.

"What were you doing following those men?"

"I was hoping they would lead me to a town"

"Are you a samurai?"

"No, but I am skilled in most blades"

"Which nation do you hail from?"

"None" he glared at her, obviously not believing her.

"Someone had to have taught you" she nodded at his words.

"My 17th great grandfather began learning how to fight on his own and taught his children, they continued down the line and now this technique has been made" she explained vaguely, he sighed after a long moment. He would just have to take her to Konoha and have her interrogated; she didn't have any chakra so she probably didn't know tree jumping.

"Can you travel fast?" he asked and he saw her smirk, she ran and jumped onto a tree trunk and pushed herself to another, quickly gaining height she made it to the lower branches with ease. He joined her and smiled at her, her face remained blank.

"Lets go"

Kakashi had been leading the female, Sakura, to the village for a good hour and she had been able to keep up. Her clothes were very different to what a sword bearer would wear but she did say that she had a family technique, she didn't seem to be lying but she had killed over thirty larger men without batting an eyelash.

"What's your name?" she asked, he looked back and smiled at her.

"Kakashi Hatake" he expected some sort of reaction, like: _'the Kakashi Hatake!' _or_ 'the famous copy cat ninja?'_ or something around those lines but instead all he got was a nod; he deflated slightly at the lack of reaction. Either she didn't know, which was very unlikely, or she just didn't care… the latter was probably it.

Still… if she did know of him she would at least become more wary or something, so she didn't know. Had she been living under a rock? Or maybe she was confident enough to hold her own?

Deciding to find out he turned around and shot a fireball jutsu at her, her eyes widened but she jumped up to a higher branch and glared at him but her eyes showed she was amazed by what he did, as though she had never seen jutsu before.

'_She went for the high ground, smart'_ he smiled but her eyes told him that he was in for a world of hurt; she had no chakra so she couldn't know any jutsu but she had considerable strength. She was skilled at close combat with swords and apparently taijutsu as well, looks like she wont be to hard to handle.

"Sorry, but I needed to test out your skills" he called out.

"Next time, tell me" was all she said as she drew her tanto, was she underestimating him? Oh well, her fault.

He threw a kunai, and she sidestepped, he threw a paper bomb, and she ran. It was obvious she didn't know what it was but didn't take the risk; she continued to evade him without taking her eyes off him. With her constant watch he wouldn't be able to use a clone very efficiently, she seemed to keep her distance to at least avoid a frontal assault.

He ran forward at surprising speed as he tried to disarm her, idiot. She twisted and turned, slashed and sliced, trying to land a blow. All the while watching his movements, she was becoming familiar with them, step to the left there, punch with the right here. He may not realize it Sakura has been able to read his moved the second he tried to fight her hand-to-hand.

"Your quiet skilled, ever thought of becoming a ninja?" he asked, she gave him a confused look but her focus remained on the battle. He himself was suddenly confused, how could she not know?

A hard kick landed in his gut and he crashed into a tree, making a small crater around him. Her grin of triumph turned into a frown of confusion when it poofed away into a log, she hit a log? But she was sure she had hit Kakashi, though he did breath fire so she guessed she shouldn't be overly surprised.

She felt something cold touch her throat and instantly knew he was holding a kunai to her throat, it seemed she had lost concentration. But when did he do that?

"When you kicked me I had just enough time to substitute before you attack hit the real me, this confused you-"

"And so I didn't pay attention to my surroundings" she finished and he couldn't help but smile, she could be a great kunoichi if the council and Hokage would agree.

"Right, lets get going, were almost there" he said and the two continued on in compatible silence.

"Welcome to the Village Hidden in the Leaves" Kakashi said, gesturing to the large gate. He smiled at how her eyes widened, suddenly she wasn't an intimidating woman but a curious child, and he found it rather adorable.

"_This_ is a village?" she said in awe and followed him wordlessly; he chuckled as he pointed things out and answered her questions. It seemed as though she was from a different world, maybe she was from a remote village that had grown with different customs and she had decided to travel, either way he was enjoying his time with the pinkette while they made their way to Kage tower.

"By the way, why is your hair pink?" she seemed a bit annoyed by it but answered nonetheless.

"It's a genetic error, my dad had light colored hair and my mum had red and it seemed that the two genes fused which the doctors said was a rare case" she explained and he nodded, it was rare to have genes mix such a way that their child ended up with _pink_ hair.

"We will be going to Kage tower to talk with the Hokage, Lady Tsunade" he added and she nodded, asking about different things and what a ninja was. He explained and a million more questions spawned from that, by the time he had gotten half way in his 'what is chakra' lecture they were already at the door.

He knocked thrice and waited for the 'enter' to resonate from the door, Sakura had to relieve her weapons to the Anbu and she did, albeit with a bit of hesitancy.

"Kakashi" a blond woman looked at him "who is this?" she turned her calculating gaze to Sakura, the silver haired man stepped forward as Sakura stood still.

"This is Sakura Haruno, she was traveling alone and came-"

"Hey Oba-Chan!" a loud boy yelled as he slammed the door open and by instinct Sakura reached to her hip only to remember her weapons had been confiscated, growling slightly she stood straight again since the boy obviously wasn't a threat.

"Naruto! Knock first!" the Hokage chastised and the blonde, Naruto, scratched his head sheepishly, he looked around her age she realized.

"I just wanted to say that our mission was finished" as he said his words two black haired boys about her age walked, one smiled a fake smile at her while the other just gave her a once over before deciding she wasn't worth his time, she silently glared at him but didn't speak.

"Well you'll have to wait for your report, Kakashi was discussing something more important" Tsunade said somewhat calmly, the blonde seemed to notice Kakashi just then.

"Eh? What about?" he asked and Sakura couldn't help but think he was either blind, or an idiot… probably both. Tsunade looked at Sakura and then Kakashi, he nodded, deeming it safe to talk about it in front of the three boys.

"As I was saying, she came across-"

"Who?" Naruto cut in and Kakashi sighed, gesturing to the pinkette standing quietly near the back of the room. The blonde turned his eyes onto her and they widened, he really didn't notice her.

"Naruto let me finish before you ask any more questions. Now, she was traveling and came across the bandit camp, she defeated around thirty men. All armed, all larger than her, and defeated then with just her tanto" he pointed to the two swords an Anbu held.

"Then what?" Tsunade asked, Kakashi grinned.

"The leader attacked her and offered her a place in the gang, she refused and knocked him out, I revealed myself and when they tried to attack she stepped in front of me and commanded them to 'sit down' and they obeyed!" he laughed a little "after that I completed my mission and we left, I did a quick interrogation and she answered without hesitation, we traveled to Konoha and I tested her skills, she would make a fine kunoichi if she is trained" he finished and the room remained silent.

"I see" the Kage looked at the pinkette "would you swear loyalty to this village if we were to adopt you and trained you to be a ninja?" she asked seriously. Sakura closed her eyes to think, she would probably be stuck here forever and her crew would be able to manage easily without her, she would be housed, fed and trained to learn all those cool techniques Kakashi told her about.

"Hai, Hokage-sama" Sakura said as she opened her eyes, staring determinedly at the fifth Hokage. The busty blonde smiled and nodded, turning to Kakashi with a serious look.

"You will be in charge of her training, you three will help" she pointed to each of them "I will expect regular reports, she will stay with Naruto until a place can be found for her, dismissed" they all bowed and left the room, Sakura taking her weapons respectively.

"So what's your name pinky?" the dark haired boy asked, the arrogant one. She glared at him a little but replied.

"Sakura Haruno, you gay-boy?" he growled at her but answered.

"Sasuke Uchiha" she laughed.

"I think I like gay-boy better" Naruto laughed and the shorter boy smiled, Kakashi just chuckled while Sasuke fumed "that's what you get when you call me pinky"

"I'm Sai" the paler dark haired boy said with his fake smile, she nodded and looked at the blond. He grinned brightly and struck a pose.

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki and future Hokage! Believe it!" he yelled and she smiled, he seemed like fun. They walked and made conversation, Naruto would talk, Sai make a smart comment, Sakura would laugh, Naruto would talk more, Sakura would join in, Sasuke would make a snide remark and Sakura would retort.

"Bye Sai, bye gay-boy" Sakura waved as she followed the blonde. It was made obvious she didn't like the Uchiha, he reminded her a lot of the bullies of her past and he treated her worse than they did.

"This is my place" Naruto said as he opened the door, Sakura stared at the mess. She honestly thought that she would have better luck sleeping on the roof and actually wanted to.

"When you said you loved ramen I didn't think you meant _this_ much" was all she could say so she wouldn't offend him. He grinned sheepishly and apologized for the mess, saying she could have his bed while he takes the couch. Thanking him she asked if there was anywhere she could train, he grinned madly and showed her to team sevens training ground.

"This is where we meet up and train, teme's probably here as well" Naruto said enthusiastically, she smiled as she clutched her beloved weapons "do you want to train with me?" he asked and Sakura nodded.

"Though I don't know any jutsu, or have any chakra so please don't use it to much?" she asked and he nodded happily, Sasuke was on the other side of the red bridge with Sai but the two decided to stop and watch. Standing on the sidelines they made themselves comfortable, waiting while the two took their stances.

Naruto attacked first; apparently he had a short patience span, and threw a punch. She ducked under and pulled her handle out and struck him in the gut, sending him skidding on his side a few meters. She fully sheathed her sword again and waited in a defensive stance, Naruto stood and summoned three shadow clones.

Recognizing that they were solid clones like Kakashi's she didn't waste to much energy on them, pulling out her tanto they poofed away with one swipe.

Naruto rubbed his head, he couldn't fight close up for the simple reason she could hit him away easily and three clones were gone in one swipe, well he'll just have to out-number her.

He summoned two-dozen clones and they went after her, he expected her to fight them but instead she jumped up and dodged her way passed them, then sprinted at him. His eyes widened as he hastily dodged her tanto, trying land in his own blows but he just ended up getting cut.

His clones came to his aid but she cut them down only when they tried to help, she was focusing solely on him and on the things around her at the same time. Kakashi was right; she would make a great kunoichi!

His feet were swept under him and he hit the ground, she knelt on his chest with her red handled tanto blade pointed at his throat, he raised his hands and she sheathed it. Smiling she offered her hand and he took it gratefully.

"You were great Sakura-Chan" blushing a little she thanked him but said that in a proper spar where he could use his jutsu he would probably win.

"You should just be a samurai, your moves aren't suit to a ninja and you obviously don't know much taijutsu" the Uchiha said with an air of arrogance, Sakura glared at him. Untying her blades she handed them to Naruto and gestured Sasuke to fight her.

"Prove it" was all she said, Naruto wisely joined Sai as Sasuke lunged at her. She dodged his moves, and added a few of her own as she let the rhythm of the fight flow through her body and, like a dance, she moved expertly.

She incorporated her dance moves into her fighting style, dance style, and she can proudly say she was a master of it. It was clear that these people had never seen this before and she used that to her advantage, she was giving the Uchiha a run for his money.

"What kind of style is this?" he finally growled as they pushed each other away, Sakura vaguely noticed Kakashi had joined them, but she just grinned at him.

Lunging again they traded blows, though eventually Sasuke overpowered her with his experience and training, she hit the ground and coughed blood. He smirked down at her and she glared, she may have lost but she wasn't above kicking him where the sun don't shine, he groaned in pain as he hit the ground.

"I count this as a draw" she said as she stood up, wincing as she did so and took back her blades when Naruto ran up to her. They went to the hospital while the Uchiha nurtured his broken pride and manhood.

"How does medical chakra work?" Tsunade smiled at her, she had escaped that dreaded office only to find the pinkette going to the hospital and offered to heal her and Naruto.

The busty blonde went into a lengthy lecture about medical chakra and the stoic warrior she had seen when Sakura first walked in her office had now changed into a curious child, as Kakashi had mentioned when the pinkette left.

"I don't know how you understood all of that Sakura-Chan" Naruto muttered shortly after leaving the hopsital, looking like a zombie. All of those big words had confused him and he didn't know what was going on but Sakura seemed to like it, was that some sorta secret language or something?

"When I was little I wanted to be a doctor" Sakura stated and he stared at her for a while.

"Why didn't you become one?" Sakura looked at him with a sort of sadness he was all too familiar with.

"Didn't get good enough grades" was all she said as the entered the apartment, Sakura jumped straight on the bed and removed her shoes, jacket, belt bag and blades and put them on the bed with her. Like hell she was going to leave her things in _this_ mess, she wouldn't find her things for a _month_.

"You going to bed already? It only about six?" Naruto questioned as he looked out the window, the sun beginning to set. Sakura nodded at him; going under the covers she let her body relax.

"Rise and set with the sun, as is tradition" she mumbled as she fell under the spell of sleep. He stared at her for a while, she was something else, like a riddle he was trying to solve. Grumbling he scratched his head, he knew that she has had a pained past but it seems that she came out all right. Sighing he left to go train, maybe Kiba would be up for it.

When dawn broke Sakura was already up and bathed, Naruto snoring loudly on the couch with a blanket tangled among his feet and a pillow on the ground, leaving the house she was mildly surprised to see Kakashi there with an orange book.

"Yo" he said, she suspected that he would say that, nodding to him the two began walking. Once they reached the training ground for team seven he turned to her and put his book away.

"We will be activating your chakra today, after that we will work on chakra control and then we'll get to the basics" he said. She nodded with enthusiasm, until a certain Uchiha walked by, he smirked at her and she tried her best to ignore the dark haired youth.

The silver haired Jounin had her meditate for hours but Sakura showed no signs of chakra, Kakashi had said they could take a break but Sakura wanted to keep going and didn't stop meditating until the end of the day.

Just as it seemed Sakura was about to give up she suddenly stiffened, he sensed the small twinge of chakra at the base of her stomach where the coils were located. Her body began to flow with chakra at a smooth and steady rate; it flowed evenly through her body and eventually settled. It wasn't very strong but it was there, and with training it would grow.

"Very good, now lets start off with chakra control" Kakashi said. The next few hours were filled with tree climbing, pushing chakra to the hands, and hitting Sasuke every time he made a snide comment. By the time an Anbu came to summon Sakura and Kakashi to the Hokage's office Sakura was ready to fall asleep in the tree she was currently sitting, jumping down Kakashi decided to show her about tree jumping with the roofs.

Many stumbles and near-falls later they entered the office, Sakura officially tired yet still rearing for more. The female Kage smirked at Sakura, the pinkette knew she must look terrible, and turned back to Kakashi.

"I see you've been busy" she stated and Kakashi smiled.

"She's been working hard, her dedication will allow her to begin taijutsu pretty soon, once we've got water walking settled, she's already mastered tree climbing" the silver haired Jounin stated with pride, another student that had so much potential. If this keeps up he'll earn himself another name of a teacher of great ninja, that'll throw Guy through a loop!

"Very good, Haruno" Sakura stepped forward "an apartment has been found for you, the basics have been placed there, once Kakashi deems you fit to go on missions with him and his team you will be able to pay for your own necessities and will be living on a pension until then" Tsunade explained, offering a key to the pinkette.

Sakura took the key and thanked her; mentally she danced around with not having to live in that death trap of an apartment anymore. Kakashi poofed away after saying that she could have the rest of the day off, Sakura turned back to Tsunade.

"Lady Kage" Tsunade looked up "I believe it would be wise for you to know that I have killed before"


	4. Dragon Child

A little pink haired girl looked up fearfully at the tall stranger in front of her, he had been following her all day and while on her way home he cornered her in the ally way they were currently in, he was grinning in a way that made her want to run but there was a silver haired boy with glasses behind her.

"Kabuto, do you think she will do?" the black haired man said in a whispering hiss-like way, some of his long black hair fell over his shoulder when he looked over to the dark eyed boy behind her.

"Maybe after some training she will suit them well enough" he said, her ears peaked at the sound of clinking telling her he was holding something small and metal. Her eyes never left the pale snake-like man in front of her, so she would never have been able to fight against the man grabbing her arm and injecting something into her body, forcing her mind into the dark abyss of sleep.

When the pink haired girl woke she immediately knew she was on the ground in a room, her body was numb to her mind but she could open her eyes though she was met with ore darkness she was happy to be alone, the there was no one to hurt her.

Realizing that she had been kidnapped she immediately thought of home. Would anyone miss her? She had no friends, her father hated her and her mother died two years ago; no, she would not be missed. Her father probably wouldn't even tell anyone, though maybe the teachers would notice but that wouldn't cause much of a fuss, they would assume she was transferred to a civilian school.

"So your awake" her mind froze at the familiar voice, one of her kidnappers. She tried to speak, or tilt her head, but remembered her paralyses.

"I see the effects are still evident, it seemed I used to much, you're just so small I didn't know the appropriate dosage, and you don't even understand what I'm saying" he smiled as he leered over her limp form. Forcing her mouth to work she whispered hoarsely.

"I… understand" as the words left her lips her mouth began to tingle; perhaps if she forced movement the symptoms would recede. For a five-year-old she was incredibly smart and was proud of it, though it did get her bullied the bullying itself allowed, more as forced, her to develop other skills.

"Oh? So your not a stupid kid?" his creepy grin widened, she forced her finger to twitch and soon felt the tingling feeling spread slowly through her hand.

"Depends on… what you d-deem… stupid" she forced out, finding it easier to speak as time went on and the more she said.

"What I deem to be stupid? People that talk about thing like they know everything about it but really they don't know anything at all" he explained, she forced herself to nod; her skin tingled at the movement.

"The effects are wearing off?" he asked.

"A bit" she stated quietly, moving her knee a little. She continued to twitch and such but eventually began using larger movements, clenching her fists or lifting a leg. Once she was confident enough she tried sitting up, taking her time eventually she was sitting strait with her hands on either side of her in case she toppled over, looking up at her grinning kidnapper.

"Where are we?" she asked quietly, a habit she picked up back home. Whenever she would speak out against her father or speak to loudly he would beat her so she often stayed quiet.

"At an underground hide out that will be your home until further notice, by the way, what's your name?" he stated and she nodded, she had no hope of being rescued but maybe one day she would set herself free.

"Sakura" she stated.

"Can you walk, Sakura?" he asked with calculating eyes, his grin never fading. She moved slowly, her green eyes narrowed as she moved forward and forced her legs to bend, then straiten. Balancing on herself as she slowly rose from the ground, taking a deep breath when she finally stood strait.

Shuffling one foot in front of the other she tested her footing, taking a full step she continued. Turning around she nodded to him, he grinned and lightly pushed at her back as they moved towards the door, moving into the dim hallway he led her through the maze of tunnels.

"We'll start your training immediately" he said, she looked up at him curiously.

"Training?" she questioned, he nodded as they came to an iron door. Smiling in his creepy way he handed her a kunai before opening the door and ushering her in, when she entered he closed the door.

She didn't move until she heard his footsteps fade, the room was black but she could feel something there, waiting in the darkness. For a little girl it was terrifying, she was smart but she was also a child and so had a child's mind and imagination.

The green-eyed child closed her eyes at the bright light that suddenly illuminated the room, when her eyes adjusted they widened at what she saw. Dozens of kids were in the room, all huddled in groups with some crying or looking very much like a scared rabbit.

"I'm sure most of you are wondering why you're here" she heard Kabuto's voice in a mike "the reason is that you are to kill each other, and to motivate you all I will say this: until there is only one left these doors will not open and you will all starve" he finished, now most of the kids were crying.

Sakura looked at her kunai, she knew the basics of how to use it, but could she really take someone's life? When she was a ninja in training she would eventually be expected to kill but to take another's life at her age? She wasn't sure if she could.

A cry was heard and her head darted up, a small boy had slashed a smaller boys throat. Blood seeping from the wound, Sakura stared at it, her stomach didn't churn like she expected it to, and she didn't feel sick. She felt sad, she felt like she did when she saw her mother be beaten to death by her own father, looking up she watched as more children began to turn on one another.

Looking into her own eyes of her reflection she remembered them, she had heard your eyes change after your first kill, and Sakura knew she would have to whether she liked it or not.

Moving swiftly to the left she dodged a vertical slice from an older looking boy, this surprised him. Sakura got into a defensive stance, all those years of hiding and running from the other kids have paid off with her being able to sense when someone is near, friend or foe.

He cried again as he lunged, twisting around his form she dug her weapon into the back of his neck. Blood splattered on her hand and arm, he fell to the ground and his own blood quickly spread around him. He was dead, but she had no time to dwell on her first kill for another had chosen her to be an easy target.

Breathing heavily Sakura scanned the red stained room, nothing moved. Looking down at herself she saw how her clothes were soaked with the blood of many, looking at her hands the reality of what she'd done hit her full force. Falling to her knees she cried silently, her tears mixing with the blood on the ground.

She didn't flinch when the door behind her opened, she didn't look up when she heard footsteps moving towards her form. She just stared through blurry eyes at the decay that surrounded her.

"Does it get easier?" she whispered, knowing she would have to kill many more times in the future here.

"Yes, you may even grow to enjoy it" Kabuto's familiar voice filled her ears; she closed her eyes and tried to imagine enjoying killing. She couldn't, and didn't want to, she would never enjoy killing, and of _that_ she was certain.

He tapped her shoulder and she stood up, he walked out of the room and she followed. Along the way they passed a man with silver hair and painted lips, with something protruding from his back.

"Who's the kid?" he asked, looking down at her. Her instincts telling her to run but the more logical side of her reminded her that there was no where _to_ run.

"A kid with great potential for lord Orochimaru's latest weapon" her escort retorted, he tall male looked from Kabuto to her. Crouching down to Sakura's level he smirked.

"Are you scared?" he asked, his eyes expecting the answer of a terrified 'yes'.

"Are you going to hurt me?" she questioned, this took both off-guard and they looked at her for a while. The man eventually smirked at her, standing up and ruffling her hair he turned to Kabuto.

"She's definitely got potential, if she needs I caretaker me and my brother are up for it" he said before walking down some random hallway. Sakura followed him with her eyes, strange guy.

"Lets keep moving, we don't want to keep lord Orochimaru waiting" he stated as he continued moving, Sakura darted after him and stayed close. After a good ten minutes they came to a set of doors, he knocked twice and entered when he heard the muffled 'come in' from the other side.

"I brought the winner" he stated, pushing his glasses up in a way that made them gleam threateningly. By now Sakura figured out that Orochimaru was the snake-like kidnapper and the leader of this place, and she was scared.

"I see, how long until she's ready?" Orochimaru hissed, his voice was like a white scratching sound; harmless yet utterly terrifying, as though its silently telling you that the owner of said voice wouldn't hesitate to happily kill you at the drop of a hat. Kabuto's was more like an insane gentleman's; it sounded pleasant even as he was killing, you could hear the slight tinge of the line between insanity and sanity that he constantly danced upon, his voice never wavered but she could hear the waver between docile and dangerous.

"Well, it's to early to tell" there's the sadistic gentleman "but if she's cared for properly and her potential nurtured properly than it should only be a few years" he said, moving slightly back to a more docile tone. Sakura peered at Orochimaru, it seemed he didn't notice, and then at Kabuto. Was she the only one who noticed this? If so then she better stay hushed on the subject, it would be best if they didn't know.

"Start tomorrow, she needs rest, she's had a busy day" Orochimaru smirked and Sakura took a step back, though it wasn't his facial expression that scared her. His voice told her that he would be watching the torture she would no doubt go through, she knew from the minute she left the bloodied room that this hell-like place would certainly bring pain.

"Very well, come on Sakura, I'll take you to your room" he gestured for her to follow and she did, her ears on alert for any movement the snake man would make. She didn't lower her guard until they were a safe distance away, but she didn't completely lower it for Kabuto was still with her and he was just as dangerous, if not more civil.

As they walked they passed a number of people, all who smirked at her or only gave her a brief overlook before deeming her unworthy of their acknowledgment, and she was fine with that. The fewer eyes she attracts the better. They eventually came to a wooden door, she noticed the seal on the door and resisted the sigh that threatened to leave her throat. She wouldn't be escaping any time soon it appeared.

"This will be your room, don't worry someone will escort you here after every training session, food and drink will be brought here so you don't have to leave the room" he stated but she knew what he really meant.  
_'Your not leaving this room except for your torture sessions'_ and all Sakura could do was nod, once she heard the door shut and the footsteps fade into silence Sakura ran to the door on the other side of the room, opening it showed a bathroom. Running to the toilet she stayed there for a good then minutes, regurgitating her stomach.

After washing her mouth in the sink she moved to the wardrobe back in her bedroom, it had an assortment of dark reds, blues, blacks, greens and purples as both shorts and shirts, there were sandals but they were either black or blue. Choosing a large dark blue shirt and some skintight black shorts she grabbed the provided towel and showered, re-entering her room she hoisted herself onto the mattress and covered herself with the grey sheets. Instantly falling asleep when her head hit the ironically pure white pillow.

When Sakura woke she wasn't sure if it was day or night and frankly didn't care, she would rather be home. Turning into her pillow she cried again, she knew she would be trained to have no emotions but she wanted to keep them, she wanted to remain human as long as she could.

"Alright, up you get" she obeyed the sadistic gentleman and followed him, not bothering to change or put shoes on. She wanted to appear as numb as possible, so maybe they wouldn't put her through so many mind killing test's like before.

"We'll be testing your pain resistance" he stated as they entered an unfamiliar room. It was tiled with a metal surgeon table in the middle, there were tools and jars and other such things she didn't recognize placed neatly about the room.

Kabuto hoisted her onto the table and strapped her down, she didn't fight back, and she wouldn't _entertain_ them with defiance. _Yet._

Sakura stared at the ceiling and waited Kabuto said some things into a voice recorder before taking a needle and injecting into her arm. She didn't feel any different until he took a kunai and made a small cut on her shoulder, hot tears pricked her eyes and the pain that coursed through her small body.

He cut her again and again, over and over, and eventually she screamed in pain. Whimpering and crying but she never begged him to stop, besides the fact she could hardly breath enough to cry and scream let alone talk, she waited until he finished.

"Now we move on to a field exercise, we need to know how good you are in a real fight" he stated as he picked her up, not healing her wounds, and walked down the hallways to a new door and before Sakura knew it she was dodging and running and swiping her given kunai at anything and everything that came near her.

It remained like this for seven years, she would be strapped to that metal table and be poked and prodded with god knows what and be thrown in an arena to fight off whatever was in their, whether it be a failed hybrid experiment or a prisoner. Sometimes they would wake her up and put her in the arena, or try to kill her in her sleep but every waking moment of her life was a grueling test of pain and will to live.

Kabuto watched as the twelve-year-old girl walked into her room, her now waist long pink hair drenched in blood along with the red sash she used to keep her hair out of her eyes, you would never guess that sash used to be white. The rest of her clothes were just and soak.

Walking away he wondered if it was the right time, she never seemed truly numb. Never truly _just_ the way they needed her, but if he delayed it any longer Orochimaru would have his head, and besides what fun is experimenting without a little risk?

"Is she ready?" his lord asked and Kabuto pushed his glasses up, smirking his usual smirk.

"She's not quiet there but during the ceremony she should reached the desired state" he reported, there was a prolonged silence before the pale man spoke.

"Begin when she wakes" he announced, nodding Kabuto left. Hoping that things go right.

When Sakura woke she noticed something different, it wasn't Kabuto's body posture or his tone. It was that personality behind the voice and the tone, she could read a person whenever they talked or even made a sound and they didn't even have to human. Anymore.

They walked down a new corridor and Sakura couldn't help but be curios, she hadn't lost her emotion but had created a defense system where she could _temporarily_ cut off her emotions and do what needed to be done, she had never had a moment to herself or be let above ground so she became very pale.

Her fighting skill and chakra was, by what Kabuto says, one of the best they had. It seemed this hell pit had at least made her stronger, so this wasn't a total loss of seven years.

He opened a door that led into a large room lit by candles, like every other room, and had a large circle drawn on the floor. It had patterns, rims, and writing following the lines and it had a very ominous aura coming from it, Kabuto gestured her to follow and he led her to the center.

When he left the room and closed the door her worry increased, something big was about to happen and she knew, from past experience, that it wasn't going to be good.

After a long silence a dull sound pricked her ears, the sound gradually grew louder and she recognized it as chanting. The voices were deep and she had no clue as to what they were saying, it was a language foreign to her.

The drawing on the ground began to glow, white light seemed to be seeping behind it and Sakura felt an updraft from the, what she now recognized, seal. The chants became painfully loud and Sakura had to cover her ears, shutting her eyes from the light she fell to her knees when a presence filled the room, making gravity so much heavier.

Lightning sparked from the writing and eventually lifted from the circle as a ring of electricity, keeping anything from interfering. Sakura froze when she felt a presence seep through her skin, when she thought it would completely force through it paused. After what seemed like an eternity a powerful voice boomed through her mind.

'_**Who dares to seal me inside a human!'**_ it called, the voice vibrating through her body.  
_'I don't know! I didn't realize they were trying to seal a demon inside of me!'_ she called out desperately, pain wracked her body as the voice screamed in anger.  
_**'I am no demon! I am a dragon! How you managed to find a way to unlock the doors of my world I don't know'**_ it growled; yet she wasn't entirely scared. This dragon seemed gently behind it's deadly aura, maybe it wasn't an evil spirit like she thought.  
_'I didn't, Orochimaru did, I think he plans to use me as a container to use you as a weapon through me'_ she explained in a much calmer tone, her odd gift had never led her astray so she would trust that this dragon would not kill her.  
_**'I see, you don't seem to fear me like most do'**_ he, she figured it was a he, said.  
_'You don't seem to want to kill me'_ Sakura retorted before she felt a great pressure push on her mind; it lasted for only a few seconds before it vanished.

"W-what…" she muttered aloud, though it seemed that she didn't say it at all, there was too much noise.

Suddenly the noise stopped, opening her eyes no longer was she in a dark room, instead she was sitting on green grass and the air was in a thick mist. A figure approached her, he had black hair and his eyes were a misty blue she thought they were white. He stood in front of her, standing up she looked him in the eyes as he spoke.

'_**I have looked into you mind and seen your past, I have seen your heart, and I congratulate you on staying like this after everything, I admire your spirit. Thus I, Keitaro, dragon of the Dark Heavens give my life and loyalty, my services and servitude to you, Sakura Haruno, I will guide you through life and you will join the dragons in death. Do you so sign the contract of the dragons?**_

He transformed into a black dragon, his long body circled her much smaller form. He stood tall, his claws resting softly on the soil but she knew they were sharp; Sakura stared at him for a long moment before drawing in a deep breath.

"_I do"_ she stated calmly, she knew that he knew she wanted to escape this place and she wanted to return to her home. _Anything_ was better than this place.

He nodded and a black scroll appeared before her, it opened to reveal very few names. A white light shined then dulled to reveal Sakura's full name written in silver on the scroll, she tilted her head slightly. Weren't contracts signed with blood?

"_**I assume you want to know why you don't use blood?" **_he chuckled at her expression _**"These are the bindings of the soul, much more powerful than a blood pact, my very life force is kept within you. During this transition you will feel great pain, try to bear it until the end"**_ he finished softly, Sakura nodded and the scroll closed, shutting her eyes the noise returned. She felt the cold hard ground beneath her and she knew she had returned to the hell pit.

White electricity emitted from the seal and followed the ink, and eventually it reached Sakura. Coursing through her body it pricked every nerve in her and pain wracked her body once again, shaking at the pain hot tears poured from her eyes.

She didn't know how long she was in pain, she didn't know when she started screaming and she didn't know when she stopped. All she knew was that it was over; she felt his presence shift with her chakra, becoming properly accustomed with to his new vessel.

Shakily Sakura stood, looking around she noticed her eyesight had improved. She heard Kabuto approach, he was three meters away and was traveling at a speed that would make him reach the door in 3.42 seconds, his heart rate was elevated to 192 beats per minute and his temperature 42 Celsius and his breathing was irregular.

She knew all of this within a second and it surprised her, it would take for her to get used to the adjustments her body was going through.  
_**'It will take some time for both of us to become accustomed to this'**_ Keitaro stated, his voice silenced just as Kabuto slammed the door open. Grinning insanely he strutted forward, it seemed he had finally chosen his path.

"That was perfect! It went better than we could ever hope, what changes have you experienced so far?" he asked, taking out his notebook. She smiled at him with all the emotion she had been holding back, her eyes shining with feelings. It surprised him to the point that he simply stared.

"Freedom" she answered before she lunged forward, ripping off half of his neck. She didn't look back or stop running, she tried to turn but skidded and hit the wall. Working on her speed she suddenly stopped, she didn't know the way out.  
_**'Close your eyes' **_he instructed and she obeyed, he told her to obey his instructions and repeat his words, she did.

"_Dragon style: Eye of the Dragon"_ she said, her hands in front of her as though she had performed a jutsu, when she opened her eyes her sight was rimmed with white. She could see through the walls and floor and at the same time they were solid, she could see the people in each room and could tell how far away they were, she could see their weapons and even tell their preferred element.

Looking around she saw the exit, running she made her way through the hallways but as she came to see the exit the alarm went off. She had heard this alarm whenever someone tried to escape, the door closed and powerful seal created at shield that pulsed with energy.

Sakura just smirked, walking up to it she then took a sharp turn right, looking at the wall she released her eyes and focused her chakra to her fist. Reeling her fist back she thrust it forward and smirked as the wall exploded from the force, half the hallway collapsed and the light poured in.

She climbed out and stood up strait, staring up at the partly cloudy sky, the sun's warmth caressed her skin. Smiling Sakura closed her eyes and spread out her arms, reveling in the fresh air and the gentle breeze played with her long hair.

Opening her eyes she saw an eagle flying free in the sky, looking behind her she inhaled deeply. Turning back to the open field she began walking, jogging, running, sprinting. Going as fast as she could she relished the feel of soft grass, the wind in her hair and the freedom in every breath, every movement.

The further she ran from the base the freer she felt, she ran into a forest and grinned. She didn't know where she was and she couldn't care less, jumping over a fallen log she kept on running. By the time she stopped it was well into the night, the clear sky graced her eyes with the sight before her.

Stars filled the sky and they reflected off her eyes, the full moon glowing soothingly. Sakura was laying on her back in long grass, she didn't know how far away she was but she was sure that they would came after her.  
_**'Tomorrow we make our way to Konoha'**_ Keitaro murmured and she felt him fall asleep, following his example she closed her eyes and allowed her mind to fall into the comfort of slumber.

When Sakura woke the next morning she half expected this to be a dream and that she would be back in her room, but she wasn't, she was still outside. Stretching she sighed when she felt her bones pop and the tension flushed out and disappeared, she briefly noted that the ground was more comfortable than her old bed.

She lightly combed her hair before tying it back with her red ribbon, a few strands falling out and framing her face. She looked down at her attire, her black shirt and shorts would only last her so long.

Sakura's ears pricked when she heard breaking glass and screaming, her head whipped in the direction before she shot off in the direction the scream emitted.

As it turned out a group of thugs were raiding an inn, growling she ran forwards and kicked a brute that was about to cut down a woman and her child, the man crashed into a near by tree and was instantly knocked out.

She nodded to the two before going inside, moving through each corridor she cleaned the inn of its terror, throwing the men out the survivors ran away. She half expected them to return in numbers, but they showed no sings of returning, going back inside she cleared out the bodies.

"Thank you miss, you saved us! How can we repay you?" a middle aged woman called out as she walked up to her, Sakura rubbed the back of her neck and looked down. She was flattered by her words and really didn't know what to do, she knew the outside world was different but due to her lack of contact with normal people she was still that socially awkward little girl.

"Thank you for your words, um… would it be to much to ask for some new clothes and a place to stay for the night?" Sakura asked timidly, the older woman smiled brightly before she ushered her in. calling to everyone that a feast will be held in the pinkette's honor, everyone cheered and gathered inside to help with the cleaning, repairs and preparations.

"I'm surprised that's all you asked for, where are you from?" she asked and Sakura didn't know whether she should lie or be truthful, the 'spirit' behind her voice told Sakura that she was a kind and understanding woman so she decided it was best to tell the truth.

"I'm from Konoha, I hope to return there" Sakura stated quietly, following the woman into a room filled with travel equipment and clothes.

"That's a long way from here dearie" she stated and Sakura nodded "How did you get so far out here?" the woman asked as she brought down a box, her back was to the girl so she couldn't see her tense.

"I… I was taken; my uncle wanted me to travel with him and my parents, who were suffering a divorce, allowed it in hopes that I will find a better life. During that time he trained me in fighting, he used to be a ninja but he didn't teach me much jutsu, a few months ago missing nin who were looking for easy money attacked us. He died and I was knocked unconscious, when I opened my eyes everything we owned was either stolen or damaged beyond repair" Sakura finished, closing her eyes she hung her head. She did have an uncle but he died of an illness about a year after mother.

"Oh you poor dear!" the woman cried and hugged the pinkette, who froze but soon returned the hug. When was the last time she had a hug? When was the last time she could be a kid? Making her decision she let go and smiled brightly at her.

"Its okay, I've decided I'm going to be the child I couldn't be before! So I wont cry, besides, uncle would want me to smile" she said, looking up at the older woman. Said older woman smiled in return and handed her some folded clothes.

"These used to be my daughters, she to big for them now so I'd like you to have them" the woman moved about the room and grabbed certain items "These you will need on your travels, I hope they come of use to you" she said as she placed them to one side, grabbing Sakura's hand she led her to some hot springs.

"You can wash off here, take your time" she waved her off; Sakura quickly stopped her by grabbing the woman's kimono sleeve.

"Thank you Oba-sama" she said before going back to the hot spring. The elderly woman smiled before going off to prepare for the evening.

Sakura sighed as she sank deeper into the hot water, she hadn't had a bath since she was in Konoha and even then the water was barely lukewarm. After she didn't know how long she _finally_ left the spring and entered the change room.

When Sakura undressed she noticed something, there on her back was a tattoo of a dragon, the ink was black but the style and detail were perfect. The large tattoo covered most of her back, the dragon moved snake-like; once it reached one side of her back it turned gracefully and went the other, the tail laid at the base of her spine while the head rested just beneath her neck. She could only guess that it was Keitaro, something like a summoning scroll only with her skin and body instead of paper.

When she finished dressing she looked in the mirror, Sakura was wearing a traditional green kimono. It looked like black ink had spilled from the bottom upwards, barely reaching the waist, while the waist and the above the sleeves were completely clean. The rims were lined with black to help highlight the theme.

The pinkette stared in awe; it hid all her scars and made her appear so innocent and delicate, but her red bow was out of place. Sighing she took it out and let her hair fall around her frame, making her look even more innocent.

Taking a deep breath she walked into the hallway, her mind flashed to the stone hallway before flashing back to the wooden ones of the inn. She stood their frozen, shaking her head she moved down the hall to the dining room.

"Is there any way I can help?" the pinkette asked timidly, the staff all eagerly assured her that she didn't need to help and that they were happy to repay her, eventually succumbing to their words she decided to take a walk in the garden. She wanted to be outside as much as possible.

Sakura looked at the mid-day sky, watching the clouds slowly move and change shape, one looked like a rabbit and then turned into a dragons head.  
_**'How long will it take to get to Konoha?" **_Keitaro asked, Sakura gave a mental shrug.  
_'We don't know where we are, by the way… with me being partnered with a dragon, what is available to me?' _she asked while she sat down on a stone bench and continued to watch the sky.  
_**'Your strength will increase as will your stamina, agility, chakra and other senses by ten fold over the next few days. You also have the ability to summon lesser dragons, also you can temporarily grow wings and breath fire and well as develop claws and dragon scales, they will protect you from anything except from another dragon. Of course all of this will take time and training'**_ he finished with a nod, as though to emphasize his point, Sakura smiled to herself before closing her eyes as she leveled her head. Entering the domain of her mind she saw the dragon form of Keitaro laying on the grass, some of the fog had cleared and a small stream was viewable.

'_Is there any way we could train here?' she asked, he opened his eyes, his blue eyes shifting to her smaller form. He gave the equivalent to a dragon smile, raising himself up the air around him changed._

'_**We can practice you using dragon chakra, it's the only thing that allows you to summon dragons, and since you and I are now two of the same entity this will eventually become similar to second nature whenever you fight, this means you have two chakra sources, now dragon chakra is twenty times more potent than human chakra.  
For example, if you hit a boulder with a certain amount of human chakra and it cracks and then use dragon chakra with the same amount then it would explode'**__ he explained and Sakura nodded, he breathed warm air in her face and she felt something grow behind her lungs, it didn't hurt but she did feel a lack of breath. She inhaled deeply to help replenish it._

'_**You will experience a lack of air until your body adapts, now this chakra depends of the dragon your bonded with, yours will be an almost dark blue seeing as it is also the color of my chakra. As you have already guessed your chakra coils for this chakra source is connected to your lungs, this is typical to a dragons body structure so bear with it'**__ he said and she nodded once again, waiting for her next instructions._

'_**Now this exercise is fairly simple, you are to take deep breaths and allow the dragon chakra to enter your chakra stream at the same time, you need to feel the chakra and to be aware of it, over time you wont need to but for now it is necessary' **__he explained, Sakura nodded in understanding as she closed her eyes, breathing in and out slowly. At first she didn't feel a thing, but after a long while she felt small warmth in her chest, grabbing onto it the warmth expanded with each breath. Inhale, expand, exhale, retreat, inhale, expand further, exhale, retreat less._

"Um, miss?" Sakura opened her eyes to see a lady that looked like a younger version of Oba-sama; her rounded stomach told Sakura she was pregnant.

"Yes?" the pinkette said politely, the woman had brown hair that was slightly shorter than Sakura's own waist length locks. The woman looked a little embarrassed, or nervous, looking away before at her again.

"Well, it's dinner time and you hadn't moved since this morning" she stated and Sakura's eyes widened to the size of saucers, looking up at the sky she realized that, yes, she _had_ been sitting down for the whole day.

"Sorry, my uncle taught me how to meditate and sometimes I just slip into it" she said sheepishly, and it wasn't a total lie: during her time in the hell pit she had learned to tune out to pain, though when she would that it would earn her more testing and training.

The lady nodded before gesturing her to follow, the twelve-year-old silently allowed herself to be led back indoors. The pregnant woman led the younger girl to the door of the dinning room, when she opened the door Sakura was hit with an image she had never seen before.

The people of the inn had just pulled the string on party poppers and a bunch of streamers and confetti to explode upwards before falling slowly to the ground, they were all smiling and grinning and laughing, the room was brightly lit and the food looked and smell delicious.

"Welcome!" they all cheered at the same time, Sakura couldn't stop the smile that reached her lips. She was invited to sit and was practically dragged down into a sitting position, halfway between the two ends of the table.

Everyone was talking and laughing, enjoying themselves, and eventually Sakura caught on. Living a life of a caged animal, forced to do what others desired be done, she was tortured but she also became a fast learner. Catching on to how these people found humor and joy, seeing what made them content and get along so well Sakura decided she would adapt to this kind of social system.

By the time the feast was over Sakura knew everyone and got along with them very well, she enjoyed their company and vice versa. Announcing that she was going to bed, the owner of the inn, Azumi, stood and offered to take her there.

"Thank you for your kindness, Azumi-sama" the pinkette muttered, the older woman smiled happily.

"It's the least we could do, by the way, we know you escaped Orochimaru" she said off-handedly. Sakura, however, froze and stared at the older woman in a wary fashion, Azumi smiled reassuringly at her.

"Don't worry, we all used to be ninja but due to injury we settled down, this is a place of refuge. Your not the first of the snakes' creations to run away and end up living here, the man who is married to my daughter used to be one of his men, but he was lucky enough to escape" she explained "Actually, there's a whole secret community of ex-shinobi through out the nations, though since you've been locked up under ground I doubt you know much of the nations" she stated and she was right, Sakura knew very little of the outside world.

"I'm sorry for lying too you, down there you learn not to trust anyone, whether they meant for that to happen or not is beyond me" Sakura admitted, Azumi grinned at her. Stopping at a door the older woman opened the wooden object to reveal a simple room; it was well colored with a large bed and had a window, there was a second door that probably held a small bathroom.

"Now would you like to learn about this new world before you go off on your travels?" Azumi asked pleasantly, Sakura looked at her suspiciously. Was she trying to keep her here so the snake-bastard can get her?

"What happened to the others that escaped?" the pinkette asked, Azumi perked curiously at the question.

"They either stayed here or went off to where they felt they would be safest, much like how your going to Konoha" she replied and Sakura heard no lie or evil behind the womans 'vocal personality' and deemed her words true.

"How long would it take to learn the world?" the green-eyed girl inquired, the older lady replied, saying it would most likely take whole day. She left the pinkette to herself.

Walking over to the window Sakura watched the stars; they were so beautiful, the _sky_ was beautiful. Average people who live with it every day don't know how lucky they are to even _have_ a sky; she had lived without the warm sun or the calming moon for years.

There was a knock on the door, Sakura immediately knew it wasn't a threat and relaxed. Calling to come in the pregnant daughter of the innkeeper came in, holding her travel items. Placing them near the wall the lady, Asuka, stood and rubbed her stomach lovingly.

"Mother wanted to give these to you during dinner but forgot" she smiled when she noticed Sakura was staring at her unborn child "can you guess how along I am?" Asuka loved playing this game.

"I honestly have no idea, but if I had to guess… three months?" the young girl tried, Asuka laughed heartily. Lightly petting her stomach, she walked over and sat on the bed, obviously needing rest.

"Nope! Six months, but I haven't figured any names, my husband made a few boys names but I cant think of any good names for a girl" Asuka pouted, Sakura smiled tenderly at her. Seeing herself with a child of her own with a loving husband, whoever he may be, was appealing. One day she would have a family of her own, when the snake-bastard was dead, so he could never take her kids like he had her.

"If I think of any names I'll let you know" Sakura said and the mother-to-be beamed at her, standing up she gave Sakura a half way hug, it would be impossible for a proper one. Thanking her and wishing her sweet dreams she left the room, Sakura then realized how tired she really was, looking up at the stars she wondered if she would have sweet dreams. Or would they just be her usual nightmares?

Indeed this night Sakura's dreams were good ones, she dreamed of the time her mother was alive and when her father actually cared for her. They were walking through a park, the younger dream Sakura was pointing at everything, laughing and asking questions. Her parents smiling and laughing along with her, answering her questions, after the park they got ice cream and had dinner at a local family restaurant. Sakura woke up after that.

Tears silently went down her face. When she got to Konoha what would happen? Was her father still alive? Would he care if she were? Could she ever have times like her dream? Would she even be allowed passed the gates? Would she make it to the gates?

Her head started to hurt from the questions that made their way to the forefront of her mind; pushing them away she went to have a bath… in the hot springs of course.

After having a quicker bliss bath Sakura changed into the traveler clothes she had been given, noting the black dragon tattoo was still there. Her clothes were pretty simple, black shorts that were easy to move in with a skintight red shirt. The long sleeves stopped at her knuckles, her legs and feet showed the few scars she had- wait… going back to the mirror she moved the clothes around, most of her scars were gone!

'_**Of course, I am apart of you now, the remaining scars will disappear by the end of the day'**_ he chirped before going back to his mostly dormant state. Sighing she fixed her outfit before tying her hair up with her ribbon, walking down to the kitchen she made herself a decent breakfast of bacon and eggs.

"Oh, up already?" Azumi chuckled, Sakura had sensed her coming but only when she neared the door. The lady was masking her chakra quiet well.

"Yes, good morning" Sakura replied politely, Azumi nodded before she began to make her own breakfast. The people here pretty much fed themselves, they still had paying jobs for rent but other than that the people were more or less a family.

"So which nation do you want to know about first?" she asked as she joined Sakura at the table, the pinkette asked about Konoha first. She learned whatever she had missed, and then learned about the other nations and lands, Azumi had brought out a detailed map and pointed to each and explained it.

"And that's as much as I know" she sighed, throwing out the cold coffee Sakura washed her dishes and made the final touches to her packing before she went outside.

Now the last thing she expected was a goodbye committee, but she got one. The people of the inn were all there; each one came up and gave her a present for her travels or when she settled down in a home, using a sealing scroll for all of this mind you, and she finally came to the innkeeper and her daughter.

Smiling Sakura hugged the Azumi, bidding her a goodbye and wishing that she be well. Azumi did the same, offering her a weapons pouch for her thigh, thanking her for the gift she strapped in on and it just felt _right._

"Sure you have to leave?" Asuka asked and Sakura gave her a friendly look that told her yes, she did have to leave. Hugging as best the two could Asuka offered a small charm that holds the power of all the love of friends and family.

"It slowly gains power and covers the wearer with a shield, or so they say, its more like a friendship charm, and it may provide you with allies" Asuka whispered the last part as she put the necklace around Sakura's neck, it was just a dark ocean blue bead that had a black roped going through it. Simple? Yes, beautiful? Absolutely.

"Thank you" Sakura whispered "Oh and I figured a perfect name in case it's a girl" the pinkette winked at her. Leaning in she whispered in Asuka's ear, when she pulled out the expecting mother smiled so brightly Sakura thought her face might split in two.

"That's perfect! I hope it's a girl now!" Asuka cheered, everyone looked at each other but didn't ask, they would find out soon enough. Sakura waved goodbye as she walked away, the people of the inn waved and called out until they couldn't see her anymore. Everyone went back inside but three people; Asuka, her husband and Azumi stayed out the front.

"So what name did she offer?" Azumi asked, looking at her only child. Asuka smiled and rubbed her stomach motherly, a look of contentment in her eyes.

"Atsuko, meaning warm child" she said, attending to her stomach before looking forward. The two other members followed her action. Warm child… it definitely fits.

Sakura was practicing her breathing technique that Keitaro had shown her while she traveled, and it was doing wonders. She had been traveling for six days and just a few hours ago she had tried using dragon chakra on some thugs that had tried to rob her, the crater would no doubt raise a few questions but they would just put it down to a ninja having a battle.

The chakra color was actually black! But instead of being dark and menacing, though during the battle it was, it was calm and soothing. Three times she had almost fallen into that relaxing trance like back at the inn.

The inn, she missed them already, she wondered what Asuka had said about her necklace but refused to be worried about it. Enjoying being outdoors she watched the animals run, fly, graze, stalk, slither and bathe in the sunlight.

Sakura spun around when she felt the presence of another, a large group of others, to see a group of adults with kids around her age walking at a leisurely pace. Some were quiet and some were loud, the group of adults all had headband's with the symbol of Konoha on them.

"Yo" a silver haired man walked up to her "You lost or something?" he asked and Sakura felt a little kicked at the comment, reminding herself that children weren't expected to as skilled as her.

"No actually, I'm just on my way to Konoha, my dad should be there" she explained, the group had caught up and had stopped to watch the pink haired stranger.

"What about your mother?" he asked and she looked away, pushing away the memories of a bottle coming down on her mothers head.

"She died, I have been traveling with my uncle but unfortunately he died some months ago, I've been making my way to Konoha since then" she said and she felt a wave of pity hit her, she looked at the kids and held back a sigh.

"Well if that's the case why don't you travel with us?" a brown haired man spoke up, his Haiti-ate protector proudly sat on his forehead and his face bore a scar across his nose. She looked back and forth between the two males before she gave her answer.

"If that's fine with you" she stated simply, the group of school kids started whispering and murmuring. Not bothering to listen she started walking when they did, the teachers shepherding them along the path.

"Is this a class of genin?" Sakura asked one of the random kids, he was a bit chubby but knew that size had _nothing_ to do with being a ninja. He looked a bit surprised but answered nonetheless.

"Were not genin yet, we still have most of the year to go before we get our headbands and are declared genin" he explained, Sakura nodded. Looking over she saw a dark haired boy with his hair in a spiky ponytail, it sorta reminded her of Kabuto but everything else about him reminded her of a deer.

"By the way, my name is Sakura" she stated, turning back to the large boy. He smiled at her, the pony-tailed boy looked over to her.

"I'm Choji, this is my friend Shikamaru" he gestured to the deer-like boy before digging into his bags of chips that appeared out of nowhere. Sakura nodded to him pleasantly and he copied, the rest of the day they spent walking in relative silence.

"We'll rest here for tonight!" the scared man, Iruka she discovered, called out. Everyone grumbled and began unpacking. Sakura looked up and found some good sturdy branches; walking over to the tree she began climbing, not using her chakra, and some of the kids looked at her weirdly.

"Hey, pinky what are you doing?" a girl with long platinum hair called out, walking to the front of the group with a hip popped out and a hand resting on said hip.

Sakura wrapped her legs around the branch she was sitting on and let herself fall, hanging upside down she looked directly into the blondes eyes, whom she was level with.

"My name is Sakura, not pinky, and this is a survival lesson my uncle taught me: 'there are more predators on the ground than there are in trees' were his exact words, and I have been doing this since I started traveling" she explained, crossing her arms. The blonde looked taken aback a little by her show of dominance, her waist length pink hair was near the ground; she should start tying it up properly.

"Well then your uncle is a paranoid loser" at those words Sakura narrowed her eyes, true her uncle really died shortly after her mother but in truth he _was _teaching her everything he knew and she remembered everything and regarded as more a father than her by-blood father. Letting her legs slip she twisted her body and landed safely on her feet, standing strait she barely noticed the crowd of both students and teachers.

"My uncle was more a father than my good-for-nothing dad, the only reason _why_ I'm returning to him is that he is the last family I have left, and I even hope he's already drunk himself to death" Sakura stated with a deadly flat voice, everyone froze at her words. Seeing as her work was done the pinkette went back into the tree and began preparing her sleeping quarters. When she came down the blonde girl approached her,

"Hey I'm sorry, I've been told that I can be a real bitch sometimes and I guess I'm not used to strangers, your tree thing kinda took me by surprise and… yeah, anyways my name is Ino" the blonde, Ino put her hand forward nervously. Sakura smiled at her and shook her hand with her own.

"Sakura" she said. Ino smiled at her and one of the teachers called for them to go get water, the two looked at each other and obeyed. Grabbing the buckets they made there way to a stream and made there way back, chatting all the way.

"Yeah, and then he threw the kunai and it almost hit Iruka-sensei's _foot_" Sakura laughed along with Ino, feeling truly alive since she was at the inn with the ex-shinobi.

"Wow, you two got here pretty quick" Choji said as he sat by the fire, Shikamaru sleeping by a tree.

"What do you 'pretty quick'?" Ino snapped, Sakura suspected she knew the reply.

"It's just… well-"

"You normally take forever, if you go at all" Shikamaru finished for the larger boy an Ino scowled, about to snap back when Sakura cut in.

"That means you don't know her as well as you think you do" she stated, it sounded harsher than she meant but it got the point across. She placed the water by Choji, he thanked her and began cooking, Ino gave hers to the teachers and they cleaned it so it was suitable to drink.

After that dinner went without incident, though a boy named Naruto wouldn't stop talking to her. Someone like him wouldn't last ten minutes in one of the hell pits, she closed her eyes and rid herself of those thought, she was tying to be her old five-year-old self before the kidnap but that was proving to be easier said than done.

Climbing back into her tree, she noticed many had copied her, she entered her tent and fell asleep.


	5. Pokemon No Jutsu

In a city in Kanto, a Pokéstore was getting a shipment of Pokémon eggs delivered from the back of the store. Big gruff men passed crates from the truck to the storage shed, the manager and owner of the shop keeping a close eye on the workers. The shop owners' child, Ami, watched with puffed cheeks, she was going to get her Pokémon today from one the eggs in this shipment and it was taking too long!

She looked on with impatient eyes, looking form one crate to the next, thinking about which Pokémon baby she would get. She wanted something cute, or cool, so Sasuke would notice her and want their Pokémon to play together, which means he would spend time together, and he would fall in love with her!

"Can I pick mine now daddy?" she looked up, her brown eyes tearing up. The purple haired child knew how to get her way with her dad and she took every opportunity to do just that. Her father smiled at her and nodded, he yelled for them to stop and take a break while Ami looked in crate after crate, Sasuke had a Torchic so she would need a fire type too.

Ami picked up an egg that was light pink and had darker pink swirls on it, asking her dad what it was. It was an Igglybuff, her dad showed a picture and she blanched at how it wasn't a fire-type, before her father could explain Ami put it back and moved to the next one.

"That's a Cyndaquil, it's a cute little fire type, like you" her father patted her head and she grinned. This was her one! Sasuke would surely notice her now, and she couldn't wait to show it off when it hatched to her gang and _Sakura_. She grinned evilly when she thought of the stupid pinkette, the girl was just so shy and so quiet and weak, Ami hated weak people and so made sure that Sakura would never get the courage to _talk. _Since weak people weren't brave, like her.

And with that Ami took her egg and left to go to her room and show her mother and watch it hatch and then show Sasuke and the two would play and he would fall in love and they would live happily ever after, just like a fairytale!

The men began working and carelessly closed the opened crates and continued carrying them, none of them ever noticed the pink egg fall and roll to the nearby alleyway.

The next morning a pink haired little girl woke up, getting changed hastily she ran down and smiled at her mother. The red haired woman smiled at her five-year-old and kissed her on the cheek when she picked her up, the woman's' Arbok tickled the girls' cheek when it hissed in a friendly manner, Sakura giggled and hugged the purple snake.

This snake was her father's but he just left Sakura's mother when he found out she was pregnant, Arbok was angry at him and chose to stay with mother and tended to the little infant when she was born, it may be out of nature for his species but the Haruno family is known for it's odd members. Sakura was let down, her fringe covering her eyes and forehead, her mother knew of the bullying and tried to do stop it but after three visits to the police station Sakura had told her mother that she could handle it.

"Sakura, could you take Arina with you and buy some stuff from the Pokéshop?" her mother asked, knowing that her Nidoqueen would keep her daughter safe from the local bullies. Sakura could hardly go anywhere without Arbok or Nidoqueen with her, the kids were terrified of them since they were both poison types and can be very aggressive and 'scary'.

Sakura nodded, taking the list and money, she went to find Arina. She found her outside charging the houses' generator, the poison type stopped as soon as she noticed the pink haired girl. Showing the list the large Pokémon walked over and took the girls hand as they made their way to the shop.

When Sakura spotted Ami she hid slightly behind her second mother, Arbok was the Pokémon equivalent to a father so she felt comfortable with all Pokémon, aggressive or otherwise. They continued to walk and Sakura helped Nidoqueen carry the items while the taller Pokémon took them from racks, the two talked all along the way.

It was strange, Sakura didn't know _exactly_ what Pokémon were saying but she got the general idea and this pleased Nidoqueen as she taught Sakura more about Pokémon 'language' and Sakura was thrilled whenever she could put this into practice, they walked to the cashier and paid for the money.

When they left some girls came out of nowhere and surrounded Arina and gawked and smiled at the larger Pokémon, the blue Pokémon was caught of guard but entertained them thanks to her motherly nature. Leaving Sakura alone, and just as she feared the pinkette was pulled into the alleyway by the shop and was pushed to the ground, looking up through her bangs Sakura cringed.

Ami grinned victoriously as she held an egg, some of the girls in her gang blocked the entrance to Nidoqueen couldn't see, while the other members laughed at the girl covered in dirt. Ami pointed to her red-dotted green and beige egg, her arrogant face showing the insults that she would shower on Sakura.

"Do you know what this is forehead? Or are you too stupid to tell?" the other girls laughed, Sakura herself peered at the egg. Ever since being called stupid Sakura had worked to be smart, she fought a grin when she could recognize the egg.

"A Cyndaquil egg" she said quietly and all noise stopped, they stared at her for a long time. Ami growled, stomping on Sakura's foot harshly the girl only whimpered. Growling again at the lack of reaction Ami did it again but this time no noise came out of the pained pinkette, the girl was about to do it again when they heard a scared squeak sound.

The girls turned around and froze in fear; Nidoqueen was glaring at them with her tail swishing in an agitated fashion. The girls quickly ran of, Sakura stood as Arina rushed to her sprouting apologies like no tomorrow; Sakura just smiled and hugged the larger Pokémon.

They began walking away when Sakura noticed a bright round object, it was dirty like her; walking over she dusted it lightly and picked it up with her small hands, bringing it to her face she smiled at the object. It looked cute, though what was it doing here? Was it abandoned?

"Nido?" Sakura stood and showed the small egg, Nidoqueens' eyes widened and nodded. They made their way home as quickly as they could with Sakura's hurt foot and as carefully as they could with a Pokémon egg.

"You what?" her mother almost screamed as she bandaged Sakura's bruised and swollen foot, Sakura fidgeted with her shirt.

"I found the egg in the alleyway after Arina scared Ami away" she mumbled and her mother sighed, she lightly chastised Arina since guilt was already eating the poison type alive.

They chose to raise the egg over the holidays, lucky coincidence, and every day Sakura would visit the martial arts dojo run by her friend Lee and his father before running straight home, no matter how tired, and watch the egg as she cared for it.

She continued with her studies of course but this time she worked on eggs but still couldn't find what type of egg it was, she didn't have the volume for that one. Staring hatefully at the few gaps in her bookcase that gleefully told her she didn't have what she needed to know what it was, her mother knew but refused to tell her.

The day before school started Sakura was checking it's temperature when it jumped, Sakura mimicked it in surprise and fell on her back. She watched it and after a few second it twitched, calling Arbok to get mother and Arina, Sakura ran up and watched with eager eyes as the twitches and jumps became more violent and frequent.

Sakura didn't register when Arbok returned with the whole family, nor did she notice her mothers' excited squeals or yelps of pain when Arbok whipped her to be quiet. All she noticed was the bright glowing egg transform into a small pink ball with red eyes staring up at her curiously, after many seconds of staring between the two pinkettes the baby began to cry, its stubby arms reaching out to Sakura.

The human pinkette immediately took the baby Pokémon in her arms and rocked it with soothing whispers; it calmed down and returned to staring at Sakura with curios and wondrous eyes. Sakura smiled at her and the baby mimicked, Sakura looked up excitedly at her mother.

"It's an Igglybuff!" Sakura cheered happily, her mother nodded happily at Sakura.

"It sees you as its mother, Igglybuff is your responsibility" her mother said in a soft but serious voice, Sakura stared in wonder at her mother before turned her eyes to the now sleeping baby. Nodding to herself she grinned, walking her room she tucked the Pokémon into her bed and ran around grabbing things for school as quietly as she could.

She grabbed milk and some soft blankets; packing them in her bag with everything else Sakura then limped to her 'child' and watched her until lunch. The pink Pokémon woke and cried to be fed, which Sakura did, and the two played after Sakura ate as well. During the entire day Igglybuff stayed as close as possible to her mother and when night came Igglybuff slept with Sakura.

When morning came Sakura was excited about taking her Igglybuff, she named Gem, to school but also nervous; What if the other Pokémon are mean to her, shaking her head Sakura walked out the door as she carried Gem in her arms. She would fight them off, Pokémon or otherwise.

"Hey forehead! –What is that?" Ami called out only to question the pink thing in Sakura's arms. The pinkette actually glared behind her curtain of pink, and Ami noticed.

"She's my Pokémon" she stated, limping at little as she walked quickly to get away. Avoiding the other kids so they wouldn't bump into Gem, she made her way to her first class; sitting near the back she placed Gem on the table and gave her a bottle.

"Iggly!" the red-eyed baby Pokémon cheered and drank it at the decent rate otherwise risk choking like her mother told her, said mother picked her up and placed her on the comfy lap that only a mother could provide.

Just as Gem finished her bottle they both jumped when they heard a loud sound, Sakura petted her Pokémon as comfort when a orange Pokémon ran through the door with his owner not far behind, the fire type jumped onto one of the desks while the dark haired boy tried to catch him.

"Tor!" he called out happily and his trainer, Sasuke, laughed. Sakura was surprised to see such emotion from the young Uchiha, normally he acts all cool and silent, but she quickly realized it was because he didn't notice her. The Torchic kept jumping from desk to desk until Sasuke noticed what would happen.

"Torchic stop!" but it was to late, Sakura was too surprised to move but she did shield Gem from the crash, the three fell backwards and landed harshly on the ground.

"Ow…" Sakura muttered as she sat up, her baby on her lap and Torchic sliding down her back. Gem began tearing up and sobbing, a small bump in her head, Sakura quickly began comforting the baby and before she could start wailing the baby fell asleep at her mothers soothing voice.

"Wow…" Sakura looked up to see Sasuke Uchiha crouched down and looking at the pink Pokémon in wonder while Torchic did the same but just stood since it was short. Sakura blushed at the attention, she wasn't used to any except from a Pokémon or her mother.

"Um, sorry for interrupting your game…" Sakura muttered audibly, Sasuke looked up and at her face.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, don't worry about it, we should've seen you" he looked back to the little Pokémon "how did you do that?" he asked, Sakura tilted her head a little.

"Do what?" she asked.

"How'd you get him to calm down so quickly, and easily, mum has trouble when she tries to calm down a baby Pokémon" he explained and Sakura stared at him for a short time.

"Well… I was there when _she_ hatched, so she sees me as her mother" she said quietly, Sasuke looked away and apologized for assuming it was a boy, Sakura smiled at him a little. He was nice.

"You're the first boy I've ever talked to" she muttered but he heard it, his head whipped to her and stared with wide eyes. She lowered her head with a heavy blush; she must have sounded so stupid.

"Really? Cool! You're the first girl I've talked to that hasn't acted all girly and weird" he muttered, a bit annoyed.

"Weird?" she tilted her head again.

"Yeah, they giggle and squeal at everything I do and they act all weird and ask me out and try to share their lunch with me or let our Pokémon play, they never leave me alone" he sighed and lent against the wall, Torchic just sat as he watched the pink girls.

"I've noticed that, mother says it's because their twitterpated" Sakura said and Sasuke shot up.

"My mum said that too! But I have no idea what it means and no one will tell me!" he exclaimed and Sakura nodded.

"Same here, and the adults just smile or grin at you like it's a secret or a joke" Sakura said, she found it very easy to talk to this normally aloof boy.

"Yeah… oh, are you new here?" he asked and Sakura looked down.

"No, I've been going here since first year" she stated, Sasuke tilted his head this time.

"Then how come I never see you?" his confused face causing her to giggle a little.

"I usually spend my time at the library, the bullies don't dare go there, and you've probably just never noticed me before… most kids don't know I exist and those who do either bully me or don't care" Sakura muttered the last part, Gem woke up and rolled out of Sakura's lap.

The two watched as Gem walked up to Torchic, she poked him, and the two began trading words. Soon the two were talking playfully and happily, Sakura sighed in relief.

"Good, I was worried the other Pokémon would pick on her" Sakura whispered and Sasuke grinned.

"No way! Torchic is the best, he'll take care of Igglybuff, wont you?" he turned to his partner and the orange Pokémon nodded enthusiastically. The two were about to continue when they heard a loud running sound, a harshly opened and closed door and panting sounds as adults ran passed.

"I think we lost them Treecko…" the boy panted, Sakura was about to raise her head but Sasuke pushed her down. He made a motion to stay quiet and she did, thinking it was a bully, and watched as Sasuke stood up with a scowl. Looking like he usually does he glared at the intruder.

"What are you doing here Naruto?" Sasuke asked in a cool but slightly annoyed tone.

"Sasuke-teme! What are you doing here?" the boy, Naruto, yelled with his Treecko making similar sounds.

"That what I just said" Sasuke quipped and Naruto growled. She heard rushing footsteps with declarations of war, but the immediately stopped.

"Sasuke… what is that?" Sakura could see his legs, he was obviously pointing to her Igglybuff and his Treecko did the same. When Sasuke didn't answer Sakura shifted slightly, though that caught the green Pokémons' eye and it stared at her and tugged at his master's shorts.

"What Treecko?" Treecko pointed and Sasuke visibly stiffened, Naruto got on all fours and stared wide-eyed at the pinkette.

"Hey there, what are you doing on the ground?" he asked, before Sakura could answer her dark haired boy responded for her.

"None of your business dobe!" Naruto glared at Sasuke and stood up, Sakura following suit, and he pointed an accusing finger at Sasuke.

"You were bullying her weren't you!" he yelled, Sasuke stared wide-eyed before growling.

"He wasn't bullying me! Don't accuse people when you don't have all the facts!" Sakura yelled as she stood by Sasuke, the two boys stared at her with awe and hurt. Sakura immediately recoiled and apologized for speaking out of term, she walked up to Naruto and shyly held out her hand.

"I'm Sakura Haruno…" she muttered, Naruto stared at her hand for a long time. Sakura felt a hurtful pang in her chest, tears pricked her eyes as she began retracting her hand but the blonde lunged forward and shook her hand vigorously when he saw the action.

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki and I'm going to be the best Pokémon trainer in the world!" he yelled, Sasuke ripped Sakura from the handshake and scowled at Naruto.

"Idiot, be more careful! You were hurting Sakura!" he yelled as Sakura rubbed her arm, though he was annoyed that she didn't tell him her name first but he didn't tell her his either, and he noticed how shy she was.

"By the way, I'm Sasuke Uchiha" he said as he checked her arm, her hand was red from Naruto's grip but otherwise she was okay. Naruto apologized sheepishly and Sakura nodded shyly, Gem then walked to Treecko and poked him and repeated the events from Torchic.

"What is that?" Naruto repeated, Sakura smiled and patted her baby.

"This is Gem, she's an Igglybuff" she waved to Treecko, who did the same, and the three began talking… well, trying to get Sakura's attention would be more accurate but their kids. Igglybuff was playing with her Pokémon friends near the group, going to her mother every now and then before going back to play.

More kids began to pile in and Sakura called Gem back, the boys followed suit and as the girls swarmed Sasuke Ami spotted the pinkette's. Strutting over, and grabbing everyone's attention, she poked Sakura in the forehead.

"What are you doing?" she asked, Sakura shrank back into her shell immediately and didn't answer.

"Are you deaf? Or stupid? I said what are you doing?" Ami yelled, everyone was quiet and the boys were stunned into silence.

"I'm sitting with my friends…" Sakura finally answered, wincing at the ringing in her ears. No one noticed Gem glare at the person being so mean to her mother, no one was mean to her kind and loving mother!

"Friends? What friends?" Ami mocked as she looked around like she couldn't see anyone. Naruto growled and stood up, glaring at Ami.

"I am! Leave Sakura-Chan alone!" Ami looked surprised but then started laughing.

"Sakura-_Chan?_ Ha! Oh forehead I'm disappointed in you, I knew you were desperate but did you really have to drag this loser to _your_ level?" Gem glared harder at the girl, Sakura looked towards Sasuke and then back at Ami.

"Hey! Don't say something like that to Sakura-Chan!" Sasuke said as he stood up too, glaring at Ami.

"W-what? Sasuke-kun?" Ami turned to Sakura with a scowl "you bribed him didn't you? You cried and cried for him to hang out with you, you're so pathetic! How dare you, a filthy loser, talk to Sasuke-kun! Stupid forehead girl! Your such a weak little freak!"

"At least I'm better than you" Sakura mumbled, Ami glared at her and took a step forward.

"Sorry freak, what was that?" her friends giggled, Sakura stood up and took a big gulp of air before she yelled with all her might.

"AT LEAST I'M BETTER THAN SOMEONE LIKE YOU!"

…

No one moved, everyone noticed Sakura Haruno for the first time; everyone saw the first person to stand up to Ami. The purple haired girl stared wide-eyed at the pinkette, who was currently holding her Igglybuff and looked on the verge of tears, Ami growled.

"How dare you! How dare a freak like you say _anything_ to me!" she yelled "I challenge you to a Pokémon battle!" she yelled without thinking but when Sakura took a frightened step back she grinned.

"Come on Sakura-Chan, you can beat her!" Naruto cheered as he put a hand on her left shoulder, Sasuke pushed his way though and joined his friends and put his hand on Sakura's right shoulder.

"Naruto's right Sakura" he encouraged her, Sakura looked at them and then down at Igglybuff.

"You want to beat her?" Gem grinned and jumped out her mothers' arms and on to the desk.

"Iggly! Iggly!" she jumped and pointed her pink stubby hand at Ami, who just smirked.

"If that's what your gonna fight me with then fine, Cyndaquil!" Ami yelled and the shy Pokémon appeared by her masters' side, the purple haired girl pointed at Gem.

"I want you to fight that pink blob and win!" and with that everyone went out to the schools training ground, Sakura and Igglybuff at one side and Ami and Cyndaquil at the other.

"The trainers Sakura and Ami are about to do battle!" a random kid became the announcer, Igglybuff jumped forward while Cyndaquil did the same.

"Battle… BEGIN!"

"Tackle!" Ami yelled and before Sakura could say anything Igglybuff was tackled to the ground. Sakura gasped, she called out to dodge when Ami commanded another tackle. It remained like this for some time.

"Ember!" Ami commanded and Cyndaquils' mouth lit with fire as he shot it at Gem.

"Defense Curl!" Sakura yelled and her Pokémon obeyed, jumping up she tucked in her arms and legs and bent her head forward into a little ball. The force pushed Gem back and caused her to whimper at the heat; Sakura's eyes began to tear up. She didn't see the attack coming fast enough to react other than yell defense curl, if this keeps up her baby will be burned alive!

Sakura watched as her Pokémon rolled away from the fire, Sakura shook. She knew what she had to do but she was scared, one last look at Gem and her burned fur sealed Sakura's decision. Grabbing her red wristband she unraveled it to reveal a headband, using it to push her hair out of her eyes she stared defiantly at Ami.

"Gem, roll forward with as much speed as you can muster!" Sakura called out, Gem immediately obeyed and speed up as fast she could. Ami yelped in surprise and yelled out for her Pokémon to dodge, the Pokémon panicked but obeyed.

"U turn to your right!" Sakura yelled. Igglybuff finally got the idea of what her master was doing and cheered loudly as she obeyed her mother. Turning around she rammed into Cyndaquil before he could dodge, he flew upwards and Gem untangled herself and stood proud, a bit dizzy.

"Flame wheel!" Ami yelled and her Cyndaquil whimpered but obeyed. Sakura glared at Ami, that move was too powerful for a baby to use, and the worst part was that there was no way to dodge it.

"Iggly!" Igglybuff glowed purple as a dark blue aura swirled around her, it suddenly became harder to stand. Igglybuff raise one of her hands and with one swift motion brought it to the ground, Cyndaquil crashed into the ground a safe distance from the pink Pokémon. It tried to stand up but quickly fell, unconscious and injured.

"Argh!" Ami stomped her foot in anger, refusing to believe Sakura had beaten her.

"Winner-" before the kid could finish Igglybuff stumbled; Sakura ran forward and caught her before she hit the ground. The pinkettes' legs were scratched from skidding but that was the least of her worries, looking forward she saw Ami just glaring at her Pokémon.

"Stupid Cyndaquil! You're meant to be stronger than her stupid Pokémon!" Cyndaquil didn't move "fine then, you don't deserve to belong with me, I disown you! I'll get a better Pokémon!" and with that Ami stomped off back to the classroom.

"Quil…" it whimpered, sad at being disowned for being weak. Cyndaquil felt a cool hand gently place itself on his head, a girl giving soothing words.

"Your not weak, your just a baby, its _her_ that doesn't deserve _you_" Sakura said gently, Igglybuff making a weak agreements to her mothers words. Picking up the injured baby Pokémon she stood, balancing the to as best she could she began walking to the nurses office with her two best friends following after her.

"That was so cool Sakura-Chan-"

"No it wasn't" Sakura cut Naruto off "Ami was cruel and horrid to Cyndaquil and he's only a baby! He was trying his best yet Ami would do nothing but yell at him, that is horrible Naruto; not cool" Sakura finished with tears pricking her eyes, Naruto looked down and apologized.

"At least he doesn't have to deal with her anymore" Sasuke added and the three brightened, walking into the nurses' office Sakura gave them to her and waited on a chair.

He nurse said that they could go back to class but Sakura refused, which meant the boys refused, and waited for her Pokémon to heal. After a good thirty minutes Sakura gasped.

"I completely forgot!" she exclaimed, Naruto and Sasuke looked at her worriedly.

"What?" they asked in unison.

"We're not aloud to battle! When mother hears this she's going to think I'm a horrible mother, and I am!" Sakura put her hands to her face as she sobbed; the boys did their best to comfort her.

"What are you talking about? You're a mother?" Naruto asked. Sakura explained how Igglybuff sees her as a mother because she was the first thing the baby saw, the boys looked at each other. How could they understand what it meant to be a parent? They looked at her, jumping when they heard a knock on the door before the principle and a few teachers walked in.

"Sakura Haruno?" Sakura nodded, wiping her tears "we have received information that you and Ami had a Pokémon battle" Sakura looked down and nodded.

"Do you know the rules against new years battling?" again, she nodded. Looking at her Pokémon in the machine that somehow healed Pokémon.

"Hmm, do you understand the consequences?" she nodded again, never once taking her eyes off the two small Pokémon.

"Hey wait! Don't pin the blame all on Sakura-Chan!" Sasuke yelled as he stood in front of the seated Sakura, Naruto doing the same.

"Yeah! Ami practically forced her to battle!" Naruto added, growling like a Houndoom. Sakura got up and pushed the two boys aside, stepping forward with her head down.

"No, I agreed to the battle, I'm as much to blame as Ami" Sakura sighed, turning once again to her Pokémon.

"Ami says you forced her to battle and if she didn't you would've gotten your Igglybuff to use gravity on _her _instead of her Cyndaquil" one of the teachers say, Sakura looked up at the teacher then.

"I would never do that to Gem! I have never done anything to Ami, you've had many reports from my mother and me about Ami and her bullying and yet you think _me_ to have threatened a Pokémon when I know_ exactly_ how it feels to be threatened and pushed and hit? I can't believe this!" Sakura threw her hands up and went to her Pokémon; everyone stared after the pinkette who, up until now, was a quiet little girl.

Sakura climbed onto a seat and watched her Pokémon, glancing back and forth between the boys, the adults and Pokémon with a mix between concern and frustration.

"What will happen to my Pokémon" she whispered.

"That depends on your mother, as for Cyndaquil… were not sure" Sakura sighed at the principle's words.

"Have you called my mother yet?"

"No"

"Please do" the adults were mildly surprised but obliged, after a few minutes Naoki Haruno was in the nurses office staring unhappily at her daughter.

"What is this I have heard about you fighting with a _baby_ Pokémon?" Sakura looked away from her mothers' hard gaze.

"You must a lot to discuss, we'll leave you to it" the principle said and the teacher's left with him, after the door closed everything was silent for a good minute.

"So… did you win?" Naoki turned back to Sakura with an expectant but sly expression, Sakura herself grinned.

"Of course" Sakura returned, the Haruno females grinned at each other. The boys were just confused.

"I know you shouldn't fight with young Pokémon but I always found that rule to be completely ridiculous, how is a Pokémon supposed to get strong and get in good habits when it's not allowed to train and develop good habits at an early age?" the older Haruno sighed.

"Really?" Naruto asked and Sakura's mother smiled at him.

"Your Kushina's boy right? But yes, that is what I believe" she nodded to herself as though to prove her point. Staring at the Pokémon that were now healed and staring at the group curiously, Cyndaquil was just staring at Sakura.

"So Ami disowned him?" everyone nodded "that's the equivalent to having your own mother kick you out because you didn't get the grades she expected of you" she murmured, looking on sadly.

"What's gonna happen to Cyndaquil?" Sasuke asked, trying to break the tense atmosphere. Naoki smiled at him; looking back to the Cyndaquil she made a thoughtful noise.

"That depends, Cyndaquil, what do you want?" The red haired woman asked, the fire type jumped down onto the floor and ran to Sakura and leapt into her arms and snuggled, making happy noises.

"That solves that problem, Sakura what punishment do you think would be suitable for breaking the rules?" Naruto immediately jumped into the fray.

"Hey! You said you didn't believe in that stupid rule!" Sakura's mother laughed, commenting how much he was like his mother.

"True, but rules are rules, and even though I don't like them there must be some punishment when they're broken, Sakura?" the pinkette looked down at the sleeping Cyndaquil, all her Pokémon seem to fall asleep easily.

"I won't be allowed to take my Pokémon to school for two weeks, but I have to spend as much time with them as possible so can you bring them at before school, recess and lunch and then after school" Sakura negotiated, Naoki nodded with a proud smile, her dark green eyes shining.

Now that the boys think about it, Sakura is like a lighter version of her mother. Naoki had red hair, Sakura pink. Naoki had dark green eyes and Sakura had light green eyes, Naoki had slightly tanned skin while Sakura had pale skin. Yup, a brighter version of her mother.

"Alright, they can walk to school with you then Arina will take them home, she'll let then visit during recess and lunch and then pick you up" Naoki smiled, Gem jumped down and walked over to her 'mama' and begged to be picked up. Sakura put Cyndaquil on her head and carried her pink Pokémon in her arms, Cyndaquil slid to the girls' shoulder and played with her pink locks.

"Hey Sakura-Chan…" Sakura looked at Naruto "you look really pretty with your hair back" Sakura blushed the same shade as Igglybuff and Sasuke glared at Naruto, who did he think he is? Flirting with Sakura like that, he acted like Sakura's boyfriend!

"Sakura-Chan, mother keeps on complaining that I don't have any friends, could you come to my place after school to play or something? Just so my mum will stop complaining" Sasuke asked, as Sakura looked up to her grinning mother Sasuke sent Naruto a triumphant glance, Naruto glared in return.

"I don't see why not? I'll call Mikoto to let her know" Naoki pulled out her phone and speed dialed her dark haired friend, Sakura joined her friends and whispered to them while her mother spoke.

"I didn't know our mums were friends" she whispered to Sasuke, he nodded but smiled.

"Neither did I, but its pretty cool" Sasuke whispered back, another girl's name came into her mother's conversation and Naruto whispered excitedly.

"She just said Kushina! That's my mum!" Sakura looked just as excited as him but Sasuke scowled, he knew what was going to happen.

"Okay, Mikoto says she would love to meet you Sakura, and she invites Naruto as well" Sakura and Naruto cheered as Sasuke scowled, when Sakura asked what was wrong he made the excuse that his brother or cousin would probably embarrass him.

"Don't worry, I like you just as you are!" he smiled when she said those words he relaxed and joined in the celebrating. Sakura's mother took Igglybuff and Cyndaquil home while Sakura and her new friends spent the rest of the day playing and talking.

When the end of school bell went off Sakura went to the school gate to see Cyndaquil and Igglybuff waiting with Nidoqueen, once her Pokémon spotted the pinkette they both tackled her to the ground. Waving to Nidoqueen, who was about to leave, she waited for her friends.

"Sakura-Chan!" the boys yelled in unison, Sakura had to laugh at the scene before her; Sasuke was trying to escape his fangirls while Naruto was running away from one of his teachers, with their Pokémon right by their sides. Sasuke grabbed Sakura's hand and pulled her hurriedly down the street that was in the direction of his home.

"Come on! Before they catch us!" he yelled with Naruto bringing up the rear, Gem was in her spare arm while Cyndaquil clung to her shoulder. The group never stopped running until they reached the Uchiha compound; panting at the entrance they never noticed the figure behind them.

"Hello Sasuke-kun" the group whirled around to see a beautiful young woman that looked very much alike to Sasuke, her long black hair and warm dark eyes made Sakura a little less shy.

"Mum!" Sasuke cheered, running up and hugging the older woman. When he finally let go he turned to Sakura with a big smile.

"Sakura-Chan, this is my mum, mum this is Sakura-Chan" he gestured as he spoke. Mikoto stared for a long time at Sakura, who in turn fidgeted and looked down under the womans gaze, her Pokémon at her side.

"H-hello miss…" Sakura stuttered shyly. The pinkette squeaked in surprise when Mikoto caught the girl in a tight hug and span around in circles.

"Oh! You are so cute! Naoki-Chan should have brought you over, Shisui and Itachi would have _loved_ to meet you! Oh, oh! That's right! You can meet them right now-"

"Mum! Sakura-Chan can't breath!" Sasuke yelled, Mikoto stopped and peered down at the frightened Sakura, putting her down quickly but gently the Uchiha matriarch apologized profusely.

"T-that's okay Mikoto-san" Sakura muttered, Cyndaquil put a paw on her leg while Gem tugged on her pants. Smiling at them she placed Cyndaquil on her head and carried Igglybuff in her arms, Cyndaquil slid down to her shoulder again and made happy sounds.

"Oh, you are so sweet! Let's go, I can't wait for you to meet Sasuke's brother and his cousins, I think you'll all get along great… I wonder how Fugaku will act…" the Uchiha matriarch continued to make light chatter while the boys fought or tried to get Sakura to talk to them more, which Mikoto found absolutely adorable.

"Hey Mikoto-Chan! Sasuke-kun! Naruto!" a masked male called out, running towards the group. Skidding to a sharp stop at the gates the dark clothed man had his head tilted towards Sakura, his orange mask revealing only one eye.

…

"Hi…"

"CUTE!" the childish teenager yelled out as he hugged Sakura and spun around, the pinkette suspected she was going to die of suffocation before she could even get through the gates. When Sakura was finally released, thanks to Mikoto, the older teen finally introduced himself.

"I'm Tobi, I'm ten years old and Sasuke-kun's cousin!" Tobi said excitedly, Sakura smiled at him. He was friendly and fun, to the point of her suspecting he was insane, and unlike the stereotypical Uchiha. Walking towards the main house the group was greeted very formally, Sakura wondering if any of them were as friendly as Sasuke or free spirited as Tobi.

"Fugaku should be home, I'm sure he'll welcome you" Mikoto smiled but Sakura could see the doubt in her own words, taking off their shoes the stepped through the sliding doors and into the kitchen where Fugaku was enjoying a cup of tea.

"Fugaku, Sasuke has a new friend" the female Uchiha said, her voice respectful. The family head stared sternly at the pinkette, whom fidgeted slightly under his gaze. After a long time he shifted his gaze to the Cyndaquil on her shoulder and the Igglybuff in her arms, looking at Sasuke in a disappointed manner quickly he looked back to the paper he was reading.

"Sasuke should stop making friends with such weak and insignificant people" he stated before taking a sip, Mikoto immediately began scolding Fugaku while Naruto fumed and Sasuke looked down.

"I'm not weak" everyone was silent at the small voice. Fugaku turned to see the pinkette glaring with all her might at the clan head, he glared in return but she didn't flinch.

"Excuse me?" he asked, his voice tense and his eyes hard.

"Don't assume me weak, old man" everyone stared wide-eyed at the pinkette who so boldly disrespected the head of the Uchiha clan.

"Do you know who your talking to?"

"The man who disrespects his own sons friends" Sakura replied coolly, her Pokémon nodding to her words. Before Fugaku could respond the door opened to reveal two older males, one having short and unruly hair while the other had long hair that was put in a low ponytail.

"Itachi, Shisui welcome back" Mikoto said happily, glad for the loss of tension, the short haired boy, Shisui, smiled and waved at her. While the other boy, Itachi, nodded at her.

"Itachi, good timing. I would like you to teach this girl her place" everyone stared at the clan head; Itachi simply nodded and directed the pinkette to the training grounds.

"I will battle with one Pokémon, you will fight me with both your Pokémon," Itachi said. The pinkette nodded and her Pokémon leapt to the field as Fugaku and the group sat a safe distance away.

"Begin!" Fugaku yelled.

"Houndoom, faint attack" his canine Pokémon ran forward as he darted from left to right, her Pokémon panicked when he disappeared. The Houndoom reappeared as he hit Igglybuff with a fiery head-butt, crying out in pain as she flew Sakura yelled for her to inflate to soften the landing.

"Gem! Do defense ball and roll around like before, Cyndaquil use swift at any opening you see and whenever he jumps or stops!" Sakura yelled and her Pokémon nodded before obeying, Gem turned into a pink ball and rolled around with Sakura's directions. Houndoom easily jumped over the speeding blur but was hit with shooting stars in midair, looking over he saw the Cyndaquil all on his own. Igglybuff hit the Houndoom this time, growling he began running at Cyndaquil.

"Fire fang" his owner commanded, a powerful flame came from the canines' mouth and Cyndaquil froze in fear. Unable to move and Igglybuff to far to help the attack hit, flying backwards and into Sakura the two fell to the ground.

"Are you okay?" Sakura whispered, Cyndaquil whined in pain but stood shakily before dashing back to the battlefield. The battle continued with Itachi saying little and quickly gaining the upper hand while Sakura yelled to her Pokémon to dodge or do combo moves that mostly saved them from getting hit by the Houndoom's powerful attacks.

"Dammit" Sakura muttered, she hadn't noticed the large crowed that had gathered. All her sights were on her Pokémon that were on the verge of collapse while the Houndoom had a few scruff marks and scratches but otherwise looked fine.

"Last resorts guys" her Pokémon looked at her "Gem when I say now use gravity, Cyndaquil I want you run and jump as high as you can and do your flame wheel. Gem inflate and let Cyndaquil jump on you to give him some extra air" she said quietly, the two nodded before doing as she said, Igglybuff inflated and Cyndaquil jumped on her before being sprung high into the air and performing his strongest move.

Right above Itachi's Houndoom.

"Now!" Igglybuff was once again surrounded by blue with a purple aura swirled around her, the Houndoom couldn't move fast enough with the increased gravity, and Igglybuff brought her raised stub-arm down and Cyndaquil shot down and exploded on contact with the Houndoom.

Sakura coughed as dust and smoke flooded the area, the explosion had been so loud and the mushroom cloud so high that she suspected people on the other side of town could have seen and heard it. The dusk cleared to see all the Pokémon collapsed, her Pokémon were completely out of energy and injured.

The pinkette moved forward only to stop when the Houndoom moved, staring almost fearfully at him as he stood up and glared at her Pokémon. Stepping forward the Houndoom pressed a paw to the Cyndaquil, who was whining in pain, and growling. Seeing what was happening Sakura shot forward and _tackled_ the Houndoom, both falling to the ground.

"Don't you dare hurt my Pokémon, we've already lost!" she yelled and she ran off the large dog-like Pokémon and stood protectively in front of her hurt Pokémon, everyone stared at the brave (some thought stupid) pinkette that stood between the Houndoom and his prey.

Itachi's Houndoom, though loyal and obedient, never hesitated to attack and fight any opponent. Showing no mercy unless Itachi, _only_ Itachi, said so and since Itachi had remained silent when he tried to crush the small fire Pokémon he expected he would succeed, he did not expect to be tackled by the pink haired human who battled his master and refuse to let him finish the battle, claiming to have already lost.

Houndoom turned to Itachi who gestured for him to return to his masters' side, the Pokémon returned and stared at Sakura with calculating eyes. She was either very stupid or very brave to act so challengingly towards a Houndoom, but the canine was leaning towards the latter, and the Houndoom found himself respecting the human for her protective nature.

Sakura glared at Itachi, not the Houndoom, before turning to glare at Fugaku; who was staring wide eyed at her, it was then that she noticed the crowed that had grown and they had similar expressions to that of either the amazed Fugaku or the indifferent Itachi.

"Girl-" Fugaku called but Sakura cut him off with a sharp voice.

"My name is Sakura"

"Come here" he continued with indifference. She glared at being called like a dog but picked up her sleeping Pokémon and walked over, taking her sweet damn time just to piss him off.

"Here Sakura, I'll take care of them" Mikoto rushed forward, taking her Pokémon, and called for Itachi to bring his Houndoom and follow her. After they left Fugaku lead her inside, sitting down on a cushion in a traditional room and Sakura did the same.

"How old are you Pokémon?" he asked and Sakura thought for a moment.

"A few days old" he stared at her reply, taking on a hard expression.

"They should not know such powerful moves this early on," he explained and Sakura looked at him, perplexed.

"Mother told me that gravity had been bred in and suspects that it was the same for flame wheel" Sakura said, her voice curios about the whole thing. She didn't really care that her Pokémon had super powerful moves. She just cared about them, speaking of which she wondered if her Pokémon we're all right.

Fugaku caught the way her eyes drifted to the door as a worried expression took her face, obviously thinking about her Pokémon. Her blatant disrespect at his treatment towards her gave her a smidge of respect, that and the fact that she managed to hit Itachi's Houndoom with a potentially powerhouse attack. The fact that she lasted two minutes is amazing on it's own, he would definitely have to keep an eye on her and with the elders view of the match… he didn't even want to know, all he knew is that she could be a powerful asset to the Uchiha clan.

"Worried?" his voice showed the arrogance in that single word, she glared at him.

"My Pokémon are injured, of course I'm worried" she almost spat, his respect for the child again raised a notch, it seemed as though she took pried in worrying about her Pokémon. He closed his eyes and sighed.

"You may leave" he opened his eyes a second later to see the cushion she was seated in empty, the door agape. He blinked, did she really just go that fast? He almost grinned when she popped her head in.

"Where are my Pokémon?" she asked politely, he did grin this time as he stood. Walking at a steady pace that she no doubt thought was torturously slow; she followed as she fidgeted with her hands.

Once they reached the room he stopped in front of it and was about to knock when the pinkette threw the door open and ran in, spotting her Pokémon she ran to them. Only after seeing they were asleep did she start answering the myriad of questions that Mikoto, Sasuke, Naruto and Tobi were throwing at her. After a short while Mikoto pulled the older male aside.

"So?" she asked.

"If nurtured properly, she may be a valuable asset to the clan" he said, ignoring Mikoto's disapproving face and left to have some tea and no doubt be hassled by the elders.

"Will they be okay?" Sakura asked when they had stopped speaking at a rate that shouldn't be humanly possible.

"They'll be fine, I already called Naoki and she told me to tell you 'stop making your Pokémon faint after every battle, that's what training is for' and to say that Guy will be having classes at his dojo and you are invited" Mikoto finished, smiling at the memory of her childhood friend ranting on the phone.

"I am so gonna be scolded" Sakura muttered dismally, though there was fondness in her tone. A knock on the door brought everyone's attention, a Jolteon walked through with his owner right behind him.

"Shisui, it's good to see you" Mikoto in a pleasant voice, the dark haired boy smiled before turning to Sakura and grinning at her.

"So this is the little spitfire that managed to last longer than two minutes" he chuckled, his Jolteon asked for pets by the pinkette who obliged absentmindedly.

"Felt more like three hours" Sakura muttered, Shisui laughed and messed up her hair in good nature. She grinned at him, giving the electric type a good scratch behind the ear.

"I've noticed most Uchiha's are so serious looking, I'm glad there are a few that differ" she said, Shisui raised a brow.

"Last time I checked, little kids couldn't use big words like that," Sakura giggled, explaining that she was very smart for her age.

So while her Pokémon rested the group of six began talking and chatting happily, Sakura accidentally revealed how her father abandoned her mother when she was pregnant with the pinkette, this made Mikoto and Tobi cry while the other seemed miffed.

"Hey Sakura, what do you think of Itachi?" Shisui asked and thus gaining the attention of everyone in the room, even her now-awake Pokémon. Sakura scowled like she had eaten something bitter.

"I don't like him" she stated.

…

…

…

"Really? Why?"

"He's arrogant and indifferent, he treats people like Fugaku does but at least Fugaku changes once he gets to know the person. He also said nothing when his Houndoom was about to crush Blaze, my Cyndaquil, and I really hate how the only facial expressions he shows is an arrogant victory smirk" Sakura finished, glaring at the floor. Shisui nodded to himself.

"Your right, he is arrogant and sometimes I wonder if his face is forever frozen in the indifferent expression but don't forget that he's the heir to the clan so he cant show weakness" Shisui explained.

"Doesn't mean he can let his Pokémon try and kill mine, personally I kinda like the Houndoom. It's the trainer that needs to learn" she muttered the last part but Mikoto caught it.

"Learn what?" she asked and Sakura looked at the door like it was Itachi.

"Not to kick someone while their down, that's not strength; it's cruelty" Sakura said all to seriously, everyone was stunned by the girls' wisdom "that's what mother says" the two older Uchiha's began laughing, she really is a smart girl.

After that Sasuke, Naruto, Tobi and Sakura played in the backyard of the Uchiha estate with Shisui joining in every now and again. Everyone seemed to be having a really good time, until a certain brother came around.

"Sasuke, father says it's time for your friends to go home," Itachi said and Sakura wondered if that boy ever showed emotion. Shrugging to herself she picked up her Pokémon, Blaze on her shoulder and Gem in her arms, and walked with everyone to the front gates. Tobi hugged her and cried about her having to leave, Sasuke hugged her too before they were both called by Mikoto.

"Well I better get going, mum will kill if I'm not home soon," Naruto said before running in the opposite direction of her home. She waved happily while thoroughly ignoring the staring Itachi; she turned to leave without a word when his voice stopped her.

"You fought well, Houndoom was impressed," he said and Sakura turned to stare at the older boy, a scowl slowly taking her features.

"I never set out to impress anyone, but thank you," Sakura said, albeit reluctantly, and moved to walk away.

"Next time you come over I would like to battle with you again" he said finally before stepping away into the Uchiha compound. The pinkette silently wondered why men are so confusing.

The next two weeks became mostly routine; wake up early, play with her baby Pokémon, go to school, play with Naruto and Sasuke, go to Sasuke's house, battle Itachi, learn from Shisui, be kidnapped by Tobi, talk with the clan heads and older Uchiha's, go home, talk to her mother, play with the family Pokémon, have dinner, go to bed with her Pokémon. The end.

On the weekends Sakura would visit her mothers' friends' dojo, this gave her martial lessons in a weekend class for kids, which Sakura greatly enjoyed. She would even arrive early so she could have chats with Guy, the head of the dojo, and Lee, Guys' apprentice, and let her Pokémon play with the dojos' Pokémon.

During her time there she had met a girl called Tenten, who wanted to be a trainer as well, and she was a good friend to Lee. Sometimes a boy named Neji, a stoic boy who seemed to hate her upon seeing her. Finally she met a shy girl with raven hair, Hinata, who was Neji's cousin and was often babysat by him.

Sakura got along with all of them, minus Neji, and they all happily trained together and became good friends despite the rarity of seeing each other.


	6. Insanity

Sakura yawned as she rose from her horribly white bed with white sheets and white pillows, the ungodly white door already opened as she is chained by the wrists and led like a dog out of the _disgustingly_ white room into nightmarish white halls, she officially hates the color white.

'_Someone please, just bleed or vomit or bring some color into this hell'_ her Inner screamed inside her mind, grinning at the idea of color she began humming her favorite song 'Across The Line' by Linkin Park. The 'escorts' on immediate alert, paranoid more than anything since people like her were unpredictable, that cant be good for their nerves. They should probably go for therapy if they're so tightly strung.

Sakura outright laughed at that thought, causing everyone in viewing range to stare; worried for their lives no doubt. She couldn't help but laugh, considering where she is and what mental state she's in.

'_Which is bat-shit crazy'_ she nodded to her Inner, she wondered who she would talk to this time. Another doctor? A psychiatrist? A psychologist? Who knows, she sure as hell didn't care considering that no one could 'cure' her.

The door opened and her chain was attached to the table, they left the room with quickened steps and shut the door. A pale man with long black hair and a pedophile looking smile sat across from her, her file neatly placed on the side as he addressed her.

"Sakura Haruno?" he asked and she gave him a deadpanned look.

"You have my file, you should know who I am" she said, not bothering to hide the insult laced with those words, though she did have to keep herself from adding 'dumbass' since that would just be rude and uncivilized, she grinned at herself. She had the most hilarious thoughts sometimes.

"Indeed" he grinned, "you seem to have quiet a temper… and quiet a right hook" he added and she nodded.

"Is there a reason you put sixteen men in the hospital this month?" his face told her he was eager for an answer, this man was insane _'takes one to know one' _yes yes. It just seemed he was better at hiding it, she glared at him and he knew that she knew.

"They were rude and perverted, they should know that you don molest or make snide remarks to someone who is mentally defective" Sakura stated, this seemed to please the suspicious character.

That's just what he was: a character, a disposable piece in whatever game he was involved and was no doubt going to drag her into whatever was going on.

"Well then-"

"What are you here for? You're not from here, transfer maybe?" she thought aloud, the snake-like man smiled.

"Your quiet smart" he stated.

"I was going to be a doctor before I snapped" she shrugged, her Inner muttering how he would like to kill him and Sakura calmly stated that they couldn't do that, even if they would easily break the chain.

'_You know, I'm glad I'm part of you seeing as most people would fight or act… insane'_ she heard her Inner laugh maniacally and Sakura stopped herself from sighing. Sometimes she could be so silly.

"But to answer your question: yes, you will be moved to a special facility where special patients of certain conditions are placed and studied in hopes of-"

"Finding a cure?" Sakura scoffed "there is no cure for us, only coexisting with what we hold inside" she stated, images of his pain stricken face at her feet as his blood and body are splattered over the room, smiling despite herself she looked at her cuffed hands. At first she wanted to heal but now she's compelled to kill, no matter, she learned long ago to cope and that the demon dwelling in her mind is part of her and that she only kills those who deserve it.

"That aside, would you like to come?" he asked in a pleasant tone but she knew it wasn't what it appeared to be, it was a sadistic pleasant.

"What do I get?" his grinned widened.

"We know your grandmother had the same condition and passed it on to you when she died, killed. She lived in a secluded area and if you give us some of your time we would gladly return you there, you did grow up there and would no doubt want to return to that haven?" he revealed, playing his trump card.

Sakura stared at him wide eyed, even her demon was stunned into silence, she longed for those open fields and sheltering trees with the calming streams and that familiar scent of _home_. She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, imagining the scent of burned pine and the smell of cool rain on warm dirt, her eyes opened and stared at the man with glazed eyes.

"How long?"

"Four years, at most" Sakura nodded to the terms as she stood up and stretched out her hand, breaking the chain and cuffs, the man smiled sadistically and shook her hand. She knew this was a deal with the devil but, to return to her haven, she would go through with the payment necessary.

The next day she was led to a white van, curse that shade, and once again she was surrounded by the evil color.

"And people wonder why we bleed ourselves" she muttered to herself, wanting to do just that but knowing that would just cause her guards to panic more. It seemed every word she says causes the world of sanity to quake in fear, she grinned slyly. Fear, the cause of her problems, the single thing that made government soldiers drag a six-year-old from her home when a man tried to kill her so he could buy the land.

She closed her eyes and remembered the blue sky; luckily the land couldn't be sold due to her grandmothers will:

'_This land is to belong to Sakura Haruno and under no circumstances is anyone allowed to nullify her claim on the land, even if she is turned to jail or an asylum this land is hers'_ her Inner repeated the gist of what her granny's will commanded of the many salesmen who wanted to sell the land, she laughed quietly. Stupid fools, the Haruno's have been living there for generations and is a safe place, plus it's the only place the demon of the family can truly be controlled.

She didn't know how long it took to reach the new facility but she knew it took a long time, three large gruff looking men opened the door and put new and stronger cuffs on her wrists and put a metal loop on her neck and attached a chain. She exited the vehicle and followed the man that led her.

She took her time observing them, they wore grey-ish brown uniforms with a yellow badge sewn on their left shoulder sleeves, it seems they were guards. No they weren't, there men stationed along the walls and they had greenish brown uniforms with red badges instead of yellow, the men leading her by the chain must escorts then.

Smiling at her successful deduction she began skipping behind them, stopping whenever she got close and then starting again when the chain began to straighten. She probably looked like a kid but she didn't care, she was insane and she was bored. Actually she wasn't insane, she was declared so but they were wrong, she simply shared her body with another entity that is a secret legacy of her family that for some reason she doesn't fear.

Humming her favorite Linkin Park tune she continued to stop and start game her little game. She had everything she had ever asked for while in that horrible white place, color: the guards, someone to talk to: her demon, and music: her humming. Though the building was still heavily coated in that cruel bright shade she simply had to look at the guards or escorts, so she was reasonably happy.

After a bunch of corridors and corners they reached a room, it wasn't white but grey. A dark cement grey, with black sheets but a white pillow… not bad, at least it's not blinding with the bland color at least.


	7. Power Of The Forgotten

Sakura stared at her reflection in the water, training had just ended and she had asked Sasuke to train, he said no and Naruto asked the same thing and she said no. Kakashi was off somewhere but at the moment she couldn't care less because she was mulling over the words her 'teammate' had said to her not ten minutes ago.

_Why do you always chase me? Your so annoying you're worse than Naruto, instead of trying to date me try getting stronger, your only slowing me down. At this rate you'll be the reason one, if not all, of us die during a mission._

Sighing she began walking away, she really did want to train but as the words had sunk in she realized that it wouldn't of helped him. Everyone else had either a family jutsu, family technique, or was super strong in certain areas.

Naruto was a chakra powerhouse, Tenten had perfect aim, and Lee was a master of taijutsu while Neji, Hinata, Shikamaru, Choji, Ino, Sasuke, Shino and Kiba all had kekkei genkai or family specialties to up their shinobi abilities except for her.

She hailed from a civilian family, no special techniques, and barely any skill as a ninja. Originally, she wanted to become a ninja because everyone else was going to be one, so she started at the ninja academy to fit in.

Growling at herself she kicked a small rock. Ever since the bell test, hell, since _before_ the bell test she was useless outside of the classroom, all she had was knowledge and that did little to nothing in a real battle.

Looking up at the sky she silently prayed for answers, she heard a cry and swirled to her right to see a team she recognized in the middle of training. A boy clad in green, Lee, was fighting a white eyed boy, Neji, in a sparring match but it was obvious who was winning.

Lee charge again only to be struck down by Neji, she tried to get up but the brown haired boy said something and walked away. Sakura looked on thoughtfully, by what she knows the Hyuuga's could use their own chakra to block another's and thus rendering them unable to use chakra in that area as well as causing pain in that area.

If they could chakra so well they should be able to use it in a different way, not just their technique their famous for. Though it seems tradition was stopping them from spreading their skills besides the basics and their kekkei genkai, that causes them arrogance and often flaunt their weaknesses as strengths.

Wait… that's it! The Hyuuga must have some sort of weakness behind those eyes, and so must the Uchiha, which means their has to be a drawback for every kekkei genkai somewhere in the world, the problem would be finding it.

A specialty that they're either born with, or is worked on throughout life and work for that skill to become your specialty. She needs something like the latter, so she needs to develop some sort of skill or a way to make her a formidable opponent, or better yet, a powerful kunoichi. How are the question, and the only place Sakura knows, and trusts, could hold possible answer: the library!

Sakura sprinted in the direction, silently promising to workout more, until she reached her sanctuary. Grinning she walked in and waved at the members of the library, she may not have some fancy family jutsu but she definitely has something they overlook: resources.

She decided she would look up the basics of jutsu so she has a better chance of learning any jutsu she decides to learn, rolling out the scroll she got reading.

Hand-signs…

Chakra…

Stamina…

Balance…

Etc.…

Sakura sighed as she rolled the scroll; it held everything she already knew. Browsing the scrolls for something she might want to learn, fire to water, genjustu to kenjutsu and more but still nothing that she could use herself, or feel capable of using.

If only she had her own style or technique, then she wouldn't be so useless, and she might even be able to fight instead of sit back and become the background.

...

That's it! She can create a technique just like that! She learn how to cloak her chakra and maybe create some genjustu, though she would need to create something to help with that since there would be no way Sakura could hide from the Sharingan.

Grabbing scrolls on genjustu an chakra she ran home and instantly began studying, she continued to study through the night and when her alarm went off she realized she needed to get to training, having a quick shower she brushed her hair and changed her clothes before running at top speed to the training grounds, adrenaline still running richly through her veins.

When Sakura reached the red bridge she actually realized that she was the first one there, but Sasuke says that he waits hours for her and Naruto to show up, looking up at the sun she knew that she had only taken about half an hour.

So… Sasuke lied? Shrugging she decided to do something with her time, since her sensei is always a few hours late, and decided to do laps of the training ground at a jogging pace.

After her third lap she saw the young Uchiha leaning against the railing of team sevens meeting point, she wanted to stop and talk to her crush but decided it would be best to keep running, not that he would talk either way. Waving to him as she passed she continued on her jog, huffing all the way, and didn't look back to see the surprised face of the dark haired avenger.

By the time she had finished her sixth round Naruto had showed up and she decided it was time for a break, she drank from the stream silently agreeing to bring some mineral water with her next time.

"Sakura-Chan? Your later than usual" Naruto stated and Sakura sighed, looking at him with a slight glare.

"I wasn't late, I was here before Sasuke-kun and decided to run some lap's since I need the exercise" she stated and Naruto made a perplexed expression.

"But Sakura-Chan… your not fat at all, and aren't you on a diet?" Naruto wondered idly, confusion laced his words. Normally Sakura would hit him over what he said but Sakura stopped to think, she had practically starved herself to look good but really if she just ate right and did plenty of exercise she wouldn't need a diet.

"Not anymore" Sakura stated with a smile but Naruto just stared "I'm not going on anymore diets, I've decided that I need more physical training and starving myself is not helping, so I'm off the diet" she explained and Naruto grinned, she could already tell what he would say.

"So you wanna go out to ramen after training?" he asked and Sakura shook her head, she knew her teammates way to well.

"Sure, but only if you do taijutsu training with me and if you beat me it'll be my treat" she decided, thinking that she could make it a reward, and punishment, or something. Naruto grinned like crazy, but looked confused when she walked over to the training field.

"Kakashi-sensei wont be here for a few hours so might as well do something useful with our time, Sasuke-kun would you like to join?" she asked, he just scoffed and glared at her. Sighing she nodded to Naruto who had positioned himself in front of her, after a few moments of silence the two began sparring.

Sakura knew that Naruto had superior strength and stamina, so she would be dodging mostly, but she was more flexible and faster than him. Also all those years of running from bullies had turned her into a tactician, so every time one of her idea's failed she could come up with two or three more, granted Shikamaru could come up with a two or three dozen but it still gave her an edge.

Spinning under one of his punches Sakura lifted her leg and hooked it against his side, using the gained momentum she hurled him into the forest. Sakura could hear his grumbling from where she stood, her smile faded though when a large puff of smoke revealed thirty Naruto's, growling Sakura stood her ground.

They all came at her and she did her best to dodge, jumping onto their heads she ran on top of them before flipping up. Doing some quick hand-signs she flashed to the safety of the tress and watched as her substitution was overwhelmed, all except one of the Naruto clones disappeared and the original stood over her worriedly.

Taking her chance she dashed from the trees and flipped backwards, delivering her foot to his chin. He flew up into the air but Sakura didn't give him a chance to recover and pushed forward to punch him in the gut, this sent him flying and he flew and hit a tree only to poof into smoke.

Her eyes widened as she felt her feet kicked from under her, Naruto stood over her proudly and Sakura sighed before admitting defeat. The loud blonde jumped and cheered at the 'date' he had one, but Sakura just glared at him.

"You know that I said taijutsu, the moment you used your shadow clones the reward should have been canceled" his face fell "but since I expected you to break the rules I will allow it this _one_ time, and is not a date" she stated firmly but he still grinned and jumped and danced around saying he won a free meal with Sakura.

Rubbing her sore neck she laid herself under a tree, the shade cooling her down, and reviewed everything she knew about creating jutsu. It would take a long time but it would definitely be worth it in the end, it would have to be a small genjustu that only covers her body and she would have to learn how to completely hide her chakra.

Going over the basic theories of her new technique she didn't notice the time pass, or the pop of Kakashi's arrival but she did open her eyes from the 'you late!' scream from her blonde teammate.

"Yo" he said and Sakura stood, walking over to join her teammates.

"Yo yourself" she muttered irritably, waiting for some stupid mission or lame training session that was designed to hone Sasuke's skills but not hers or Naruto's, and she wondered why she never got stronger since meeting her sensei.

Granted they learned new things but there training sessions involved Sasuke and Naruto sparring, and Kakashi would give pointers to Sasuke while Naruto would just receive what he did wrong but no instructions on how to fix it, while she would just observe.

Fucking Uchiha's, fucking favoritism, fucking sensei. Fuck them, and Naruto too, at least he gets _some _sort of training while she's stuck on the sidelines. Sexist asshole.

Sighing she watched the two spar, Naruto going in headfirst while Sasuke showed off. That's when it struck her: she didn't fawn over Sasuke, no emotion, no skipping heartbeat, ever since she decided to change things have changed within her, she treated Naruto better and was training more seriously. This must have nullified her fangirl-like ways, and she had to admit it was kinda fun cursing and badmouthing others, at least her male teammates.

"Hey sensei, can I spare with Sasuke since Naruto will be to exhausted to fight after this" she asked amiably as her sensei read his perverted book next to her, said teacher looked at her but didn't comment on her sudden change in demeanor.

"Sure, I don't see why not" he said off-handedly as he usually does, Sakura however sent him a suspicious glance, normally he would say something like 'a girl shouldn't fight someone like Sasuke' but it seemed he was giving her a chance. Naruto cried out in frustration when he lost the fight, Kakashi gave pointers to Sasuke but only scolded Naruto, gritting her teeth she stood and positioned herself to fight Sasuke.

"What are you doing?" she glared at him for his stupid question.

"Sparring with you, what does it look like?" she retorted, everyone stared at her for a long time. Tired of waiting Sakura dashed forward, taking Sasuke by surprise and landing a good hit on his shoulder. Growling Sasuke swung at Sakura who skillfully dodged, she had seen all his moves before and was going to use them to her advantage, and she knew his limits and his tactics.

They exchanged blows for a while, one became more frustrated while the other calmly commented and taunted the other. The pinkette waited for a mistake or an opening while the boy continued to allow rage to seep into his attacks and judgment, when the opportunity presented itself Sakura didn't hesitate.

Sasuke landed on the ground with a grunt and Sakura was on top of him with a kunai at his throat, when Kakashi called the match she stood from her position. Naruto congratulated her; smiling to him she turned and offered a hand to Sasuke. Violently slapping it away he growled at her.

"How did you do it?" he hissed "You could practically read my moves before I made them! How?" he yelled, Sakura sighed and pointed to the log she often sat on when told to observe.

"Every time we trained it was _only_ you and Naruto who fought and I was stuck watching, I've seen both of you fight so much I know practically everything in your artillery" she stated, offering her hand again, and again he slapped it away. Standing he briskly made his way past her, glaring she grabbed his arm and pulled him back.

"What are you so fucking pissed about?" she yelled, "So I beat you, big deal! Maybe if you stop being such an arrogant, disregarding, prick that actually stopped and looked at what you had around you maybe you wouldn't be so angry that you lost _one_ fight!" she finished, he glared at her for a long time but she refused to be scared, seemingly losing patience he moved to hit her but she just flipped him over and sat on his back with a kunai to his throat.

"How many times do I have to say it? I know all your moves. I know the truth hurts but instead of denying it and being angry you should try to improve it and _then_ you can grow stronger" she explained, he just glared at her.

"What would you know on the subject? You've never had-"

"Never had my loved ones taken away? _Bullshit!_ You don't know me Sasuke, you _never_ even_ tried_ to, we've all lost loved ones Sasuke. Grow up" she said with such dark bitterness everyone froze, Kakashi tightened his grip on Naruto to stop from him interfering, Sasuke was learning an important lesson by the person he disrespected the most.

"What are you talking about? You have a family, you have loved ones, I have-"

"Nothing? I repeat, _bullshit_, look around you Sasuke; you have a village, you have friends, you have a _future,_ but it seems you going to throw that all away for revenge. Tell me Sasuke, what means will you take?"

"Anything!"

"Even leave the village?"

"Yes!"

"Okay, and if you get your revenge tell me this: what will you do?"

…

"Do you think the village will just open up and let you back in like nothing has happened? Do you think anyone would care that you achieved your goal? You would break the hearts of your fellow shinobi just to kill one person that is going to die either way?" she questioned him, when he gave no answer she continued.

"When you insulted me yesterday I learned a very important, and very hard, lesson. But instead of brooding, bring angry, and ignoring that _fact, _like you, I worked to change it. Now will you try to change your flaws, and stay with us?" she questioned but the Uchiha remained silent.

"I've given you the lesson, whether you learn from it or not is up to you" she muttered as she stood up, asking Naruto if he would like to go to Ichiraku she began leaving. Sasuke sat up and stared after her, Kakashi doing much the same.

"What did she mean when she said…" Sasuke trailed off, his sensei knowing what he meant. Kakashi looked at his student, before looking back at the retreating Sakura.

"I don't know"

After a very pocket-emptying ramen lunch with Naruto Sakura made her way back home, looking around she assumed her mother is probably sleeping or out for a stroll, going to the kitchen Sakura prepared a small meal for herself and her mother.

"Sakura-hime?" lifting her head at the sudden voice she saw the beautiful face of her mother. Smiling she walked over and hugged her, the aging woman hugged back and waited until her daughter pulled back.

"Hey mum, did you have lunch?" the older woman smiled at her daughter.

"Not much, I'm still hungry" she whispered and Sakura nodded, moving back to the kitchen the pink haired girl finished lunch.

"Sakura-hime, your such an angel, I hope the man you marry will value you above all else" her mother said in a hushed tone, ever since the accident Sakura's mother has virtually lost her voice and the use of her legs. Her father, on the other hand, wasn't so lucky.

Sakura's mother and father are civilians but often traveled with ninja for business reasons and they also loved to travel, during one of their trips they were attacked. Her father was barely recognizable, and mother had been hit with shrapnel. Sighing Sakura tried to change her line of thought; smiling at her mother she made a big announcement.

"Guess what! I'm going to make a jutsu that allows me to be overlooked, I'll practically be invisible!" Sakura's mother smiled brightly, seeing it as a way that she would have less chance of her daughter getting hurt.

"That's wonderful Sakura-hime! Try your best!" her mother managed to finish but ended up coughing harshly, she spoke to loudly. Getting a glass of water Sakura ran back to her mother and helped her drink it all, sending some chakra into her throat to help sooth and waited until her mother could breath properly.

"Mother, I need to go, I'll get the neighbors to visit while I'm gone, okay?" the pinkette stood as the wheelchair bound woman nodded, smiling she grabbed the needed material and left after asking the neighbors.

Going over everything in her head Sakura began practicing, of course there was no way for her to tell if it worked, though if she did it right she wouldn't have a reflection or anything, but she would still be heard and would work on that later.

Hours passed, Sakura made little progress but she was at least able to make herself transparent, sighing she released the jutsu and made her way to the hot springs. Kami knows she needed some time to relax, at least for a little while.

Stopping she thought for a moment before turning on her heel and walked home, she would get her mother and they would both go. Sakura knew that her mother would love the idea, opening the door she convinced the older woman to go to the springs with her.

Pushing her mothers wheelchair the two chatted happily while they made their way to the springs, once reaching said building they allowed them to use one that would allow them both easy privacy. The two females smiled as they sighed into the water, Sakura's mother talked about home and books and trivial things and Sakura talked about her new jutsu and her training and how she noticed that Kakashi favors Sasuke over Naruto and Naruto over her.

"I see… well that's what happens when you have someone like Sasuke on your team, the council always has a say when it comes to the Uchiha" her mother sighed, slightly irritated that her daughter would be ignored for the simple reason that she was from a civilian family.

They two continued to talk as they continued to pamper themselves; Sakura had done enough missions to afford the whole treatment. Once they were finally left Sakura and her mother went to the bookstore, then the butchers, fruit & vegetable stands and even got some sweet dumplings along the way.

Sakura set her mother to bed and went to have a shower, thinking over what had happened she silently cursed at her own stupidity. The others would start to question what she had said about losing loved ones, now she would have to explain everything and it wasn't a subject she wanted to be pitied. Sighing she went to bed, all thoughts vanished as soon as her head hit the pillow.

When Sakura woke up she stared at the ceiling, mentally preparing herself for her day. She eventually got out of bed and changed her clothes, making her way leisurely to team sevens meeting place


	8. Benders OF The World

A small six-year-old girl looked up at the sky from her tree top platform, her green eyes staring at the clouds she smiled brightly as they changed shape to create something different. Her friend yawned as he watched the clouds.

"Do you have to smile at everything? Troublesome child" the small brown haired boy muttered as he put his hands behind his spiky ponytailed head and pointed out shapes and animals along with his pink haired friend.

"Sakura! Shikamaru! Get down here, the ceremony is about to begin" one of the adults yelled from the ground. The two friends made their way down quickly; racing to the Mother Tree they climbed up the vines and branches until they reached the main platform.

"This festival is such a drag" Shikamaru muttered as he stared at the lanterns threading themselves through the forest canopy and lower branches. The young pinkette shook her head at her friends' antics but smiled nonetheless. Today was the First Day of Spring, _the awakening of slumbering life._

Everyone gathered around the center of the Mother Tree where the head of their village stood, ready and waiting for the noise to lessen. His old eyes scanned the crowd before he smiled at everyone.

"Welcome one and all!" the crowd cheered "to our annual celebration of the First Day of Spring, as usual we will pay our respects to the passing winter and welcome the fresh spring" he finished and began the ceremony. Turning around he bowed to the large cherry blossom tree at the center of the Mother Tree before taking a single drop of water and placing it on the bark of the tree.

"Mother why does he do that?" Sakura asked looking up at her mother with curios eyes. Sakura's mother sighed in an annoyed tone.

"Its traditional, so the festival can begin" she answered in an exasperated tone, a slightly unimpressed look on her fine features. Sakura frowned and looked down, her parents never really acknowledged her and always seemed disappointed whenever she spoke so she would refrain from speaking. And also it seems that the other kids noticed this and took full advantage of this.

After the elder finished the festival began, everyone talked, laughed, sang, danced and had fun. Sakura stood off to the side as she watched the other kids play and dance, sighing she moved down to the little stream she and her parents always go to. Staring into the water she watched her reflection in the rippling water, the fading light gave off a mystical feel to the place.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't forehead" Sakura froze as she heard a familiar voice, one she dreaded with all her being. Though all Sakura wanted to do was run she remained still, pretending not to hear them.

"Hey! Don't ignore me!" she yelled. Sakura felt a force push her back before she fell into the water, Sakura didn't try to get up in fear they would see her tears, their laughter echoed in her ears.

"That's right freak, stay were you belong" she said haughtily, Sakura slowly stood up from her position in the water but kept her head low.

"Why cant you just leave me alone…" she muttered under her breath. She was sad yes, but she was also angry. Angry at how no matter what she did her parents never seemed proud of her, at how almost everyone picked on her, how barely anyone even noticed she was there and how, no matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't be strong.

"What was that forehead? Did you say something?" the leader of the band of kids asked, disdain evident in her voice. Sakura's fists shook as her body shivered at the torrent of emotions flooding her body and mind.

"Just… just leave me alone!" Sakura screamed as she shot her head up and stomped her foot in a gesture of aggression, the children froze but it wasn't her that scared them. It was how the water shot backwards and crashed into a nearby tree, the tree itself was left undamaged but the fact that the water moved like that was enough to make the kids cautious around the pinkette, after all, benders are respected and, sometimes, feared.

"What the hell was that?" the kids whispered in their group and Sakura stared at the wet ground; now though Sakura lacked confidence in many things she was very proud of her intellect, and she was smart enough to know that the water had been manipulated.

When she turned around the bullies were already gone, Sakura sighed before she looked down at the water. Could she have been the one who maneuvered the water?

Trying her luck Sakura moved her hands the way she believed a water bender would, it was sloppy and the water barely moved but it worked. The water, more or less, moved to her will. Smiling she turned around to run back to the village to tell Shikamaru.

Along the way Sakura paused, she smelt something that all forest creatures, and her village, fear, hunter and hunted alike.

Fire.

Running as fast as she could she made her way back to her village, planning on warning them about the blaze that was no doubt near by. Instead of a celebrating village, however, she was met with the burning of her home.

"No…" she breathed as her eyes blurred with tears before she sprinted into the burning village. Dodging the fire as best a five year old could she made her way to the center of the tree where the cherry tree resided, but that to was being consumed by the flames, she stared in horror as the jewel of the village turned black and orange.

The flaming world around her disappeared in that time as a single petal escaped the inferno, flying upwards from the heat her eyes followed. Whisking around it finally descended towards her small form, without thinking she held her palm in front of her as the pale flower landed in the center of her palm.

She suddenly returned to the world as a large branch almost crushed her in a fiery heap, yelping she jumped away before scurrying to her house in hopes of finding her parents, what she saw would forever be imprinted in her mind.

Bandits and thugs burning the residential district to the ground while they took anything and everything of value, sneaking past them she entered her house that had luckily been on the farther side of the village where the attack no doubt started.

"Mum! Dad! Where are you?" Sakura cried out, clutching the flower lightly. Instead of her parents voices she heard the voice of her only friend, Shikamaru.

"You made it, my parents left me here while everyone left to find the other children or fight" he said as he took her hand and pulled her to the back room, which was full of boxes and old things. Sakura tried to speak but the smoke and ash she inhaled has caused her throat to be dry and made speaking painful.

"When…" was all Sakura could croak before she erupted into a coughing fit.

"Shortly after you left, I don't know much else" he said before he ran off to get some water. He couldn't believe it, the village was known for being hard to find yet it seems these people had known about the villages location for a while, otherwise they wouldn't be so prepared.

He came back and handed Sakura the cup which she took sips of instead of downing the whole thing, she was always a clever girl and it was a shame her parents never really paid attention to her.

"Thank you" she muttered, the soreness still evident in her tone but she sounded better.

There was a loud explosion that shook the ground beneath their feet, the two kids stumbled slightly but managed to stay standing. They stilled completely as the sound of footsteps filled their ears, they hid behind the boxes and remained as quiet as possible.

"Shikamaru? Where are you?" a familiar voice resounded through the air and the two poked their little heads out to see the red hair of Sakura's mother.

"Sakura! Oh thank goodness, Haruka! Sakura is safe!" she yelled down the hall and a young white haired man ran inside, having a similar reaction to his wife he hugged his daughter.

"Where were you?" he asked and she said she was at the river before smelling the smoke and running home, the adult's nodded before another explosion shook the ground.

"Akako, we need to leave" he whispered to his wife before picking up Sakura, Akako doing the same with Shikamaru and running out into the hall.

But they never made it out of their home as the roof, finally succumbing to the weight of fallen branches and fire, crumbled above them and thus buried them in its rubble and debris.

Pain.

That's the first thing she felt when she regained consciousness, she hazily remembered fire and the ceiling and it seemed as though the pain increased as the memories became more vivid, silent tears slid down her cheeks and left tracks through the dirt and ash covering her face.

"Sakura…" her eyes shot open and she gasped at the pain at the sudden jerk of her movements, causing her to cough harshly at the ash she inhaled. Moving her eyes around she realized she was in a shell of sorts; the railing from the ceiling had fallen around her in such a way that it sheltered her just enough to avoid anything fatal.

"Sakura, are you… awake?" Sakura turned her head to see something that made her wish she was blind, her parents were trapped under a large piece of rubble that looked ready to fall at any moment.

"Mommy, daddy?" the little girl sobbed as she crawled over to her parents, she opened her palm to see the blossom still in her hand and for some reason it calmed her.

"Can… can you move?" she coughed but she knew the answer when tears filled both her parents eyes, bowing her head she stared at the blossom in her palm.

"Mama, papa… are you water benders?" she asked in a hushed tone, looking up she stared into their wide eyes. Haruka sighed as he smiled at his only daughter, despite the tears that ran down his face.

"Yes, I assume you are also one as well?" he whispered and the pink haired child nodded, his wife sobbed lightly as she took the hand that held the blossom.

"We are sorry for our detached actions towards you, please always believe that we love you, no matter what anyone says. We love and that our love for you shall be forever sealed within this flower, as well as the love of the village" she said as she let her tears pool in the girls' palm, moving the child's hand to her husband he did the same. Akako looked around and found a black stained silver chain and reached for it, Sakura was staring at the tears in her palm and a few of her own joined her parents.

"Sakura-hime… hold out your hand" her father asked gently and she obeyed silently, her eyes widened when the two began bending the tears in her palm. When they finished what remained was a flower frozen in tears of a family's love, attached to the burned chain of their home. It looked like the flower was incased in crystal clear glass.

"Keep this with always, so if your ever sad, alone, confused or scared this will remind you of your home and our love" Akako cried as she grabbed the chain with one hand, Haruka grabbing the chain as well with one hand and they both placed around their daughters neck. It reached a little passed her chest but that would change, as she grew older.

"Remember what we taught you, about surviving the wilderness?" her father asked and Sakura nodded "You will need to use that, also, I want you to know that we are so proud of you and you will always be worthy of the Haruno name" he said as he pulled her into a hug, Akako joined them and that's how they stayed for a long time. Simply comforted in each other's arms, but soon a crumbling was heard.

"No" Sakura sobbed as she shook, her parents let her go and looked up to see the debris above them beginning to crumble.

"We love you Sakura, our precious daughter" they said in unison before they push her out of rang of the falling rubble just as it fell upon them, burying their bodies in broken and burned wood.

Sakura simply laid there staring at where her parents once were, tears slid down her face but she couldn't bring herself to sob or scream or anything. Just silently cry at was has been lost, for no amount of voicing her dismay shall bring back the things she loves the most.

Clutching her necklace she gasped slightly, it was warm. Though this warmth was different from anything she's felt, it wasn't that of a calm fire or of a roaring inferno. It was like warm water, soothing and kind, it calmed her to the point were she stopped crying.

Her parent's bodies may be gone but their souls remain with her, as does the spirit of the entire village. She looked up to the rays of light that peered through the cracked of the tomb, climbing out of the rubble as best she could she looked to see what was left of her village.

Finally tearing her eyes away from the blackened wreckage she began her trek over the destruction, the smoke was still fresh and some things were still hot or burning. She stopped when she heard a sobbing, her eyes widened in hope and ran as fast as she could.

The familiar brown made her smile despite the situation, the spiky ponytail in its usual style, though slightly messy, made her heart flutter with relief. Glade that her best, and only, friend was still alive she called out in happiness.

"Shikamaru!" her voice echoed through the burned trees. The small boy jolted, he looked over his shoulder almost in panic but when he saw his best friend running towards him he stood up and ran towards his friend.

They crashed into each other as they hugged and both cried in sadness at the loss of their home and family, but also in joy at knowing at least another person had survived this hell.

"We should go, they might come back" Sakura whispered as she slowly pulled away, Shikamaru nodded and told her to go look for supplies and he would do the same.

When they finished scavenging they had one bag, one good blanket that was only burned at the rims, two adult sized fireproof cloaks, one metal flask, matches, some slightly tattered clothing, a tree sap lantern (read end of chapter for explanation) and a decent amount of money consisting mainly of silver coins.

"We don't need food since the forest can provide" Shikamaru muttered and turned to Sakura but paused when he saw her face, she seemed to be concerned with something

"Sakura?" her eyes darted to his face "what's wrong?" he asked gently, he knew that she would tell him eventually but it would be better to get everything out in the open before they departed.

"Before the attack I discovered I can water bend" she stated and she watched his eyes widen, he looked at her for a long time before he sighed.

"Wait here" he said and he dashed off somewhere. Sakura vaguely noticed that this was the most active she's ever seen him, shrugging her shoulders she started packing. By the time he returned she had finished and was chewing on a tough root that helped with pain, and it also kept her hunger at bay since it was edible once thoroughly chewed.

"While looking for supplies I came across this, I didn't think it would be any use so I left it, but I guess it can be of use now" he said as he showed a blue scroll, Sakura's eyes lit up at the prospect of learning water bending. Thanking her friend she took the scroll and hugged it to her chest, it was then that she noticed what he was wearing.

"Is that your fathers jacket?" she asked and her friend nodded, the jacket was green and had many pockets for holding and hiding all sorts of things, the garment reached the childs' feet and dragged across the ground.

"So you got something from your family too" she muttered as she clutched her necklace. Shikamaru nodded before he gestured for them to leave, away from the only home they've ever known.

A tree sap lantern is pretty much like an oil lantern, Sakura's and Shikamaru's village knew a method that would allow the tree sap to burn slowly and brightly and both of them know how, it is one of the many things they had to learn early on. It was how the village worked: from the minute you can walk you are taught how to live in the forest and how to hide in the forest, simple.

Two seventeen-year-old strangers sat in a clearing in the middle of the forest, a lantern giving them a decent view of their map.

"So how long till we get there?" the female asked, her thigh length pink hair hidden from the hood of her black cloak. Her viridian eyes glanced at the map before turning her eyes to the sky, the weather would no doubt slow them down.

"Not soon enough, what a drag" her male companion muttered, removing his hood to scratch the back of his head and revealed dark brown hair in a spiky ponytail. Joining his life long friend in staring at the quickly darkening sky.

"All right, you go get the water, I'll set up the tents" he muttered and his pink haired friend smiled at him gratefully, now she could practice her water bending.

"Thanks Shikamaru" she said as she stood up and took his offered flask.

"Yeah, yeah, as long as you don't flood the camp again" he muttered and she pouted, crossing her arms childishly.

"I only flooded like…" she tried to count.

"Eight times, Sakura, eight damn times" he muttered and Sakura laughed sheepishly.

"Really?" all she got was a nod before he turned away from her and began his task, taking this as her cue to leave she headed down to the stream.

Inhaling deeply she got into the basic stance she had memorized and mastered, shifting her foot forward she circled her arms below her waist before pulling them above her shoulders, shifting her foot backwards and bringing her hands near her chest she repeated the process many time until the water moved and was floating in the air.

Shifting her footing she moved her hands over her head, the water following, and turned her body until she was facing away from the stream. With the water placed above her head she slowly began to bring the water down with her hands, she then directed the water into the flasks. Some water was spilled but otherwise she successfully managed to bend the water into the flasks.

Smiling to herself Sakura picked them up and made her way back to camp, the lazy genius already had a fire going. He stared at her with expecting eyes; she returned his stare with a 'cant-you-cook-for-yourself?' look.

"We both know I can't cook for shit" he answered her mental question and she smiled at how he knew her so well, and vice versa.

"True, lazy bastard" she muttered the last part and got-a-cooking!

The meals were finished quickly and the fire was put out, the two entered the single tent and slipped into the old blanket that had the homely designs from their long lost home.  
Now most people would find this strange but ever since the two were little sleeping in the same tent, bed, blanket etc. had become second nature and the two actually found it harder to sleep when they used separate beds.

"Night Shika-nii-kun" Sakura muttered before she dozed off.

"Night Sakura-imouto-Chan" he mumbled as he succumbed to the sweet nothingness of sleep.

Sakura growled at the dilemma she faced, this happened _every_ morning! Minus a few times she overworked herself, but luckily having to with this so often gave her experience and allowed her to know _just_ how to handle it.

"Shikamaru if you don't get your lazy ass up I _will_ flood the tent!" she yelled and immediately heard the shuffling of fabric until he peeked his head out the tent door.

"You wouldn't" he muttered and she grinned, planning on his words.

"I've done it _eight times_ before, what makes you think I wont do it a ninth?" she retorted and upon hearing her surrogated brothers sigh she gave him a victorious grin.

"Come on, if we don't get there as soon as possible then it will be more _troublesome_ to brave the weather" Sakura reasoned as she put on her cloak, putting the hood over her head she didn't wait for her friend as she began emptying the tent. Shikamaru scurried out and put his shirt on, grabbing a snack bar he tossed it to his sister-like-friend before eating his own.

"So if we take the mountain pass we should get there by the end of the day, at least" she urged as he yawned, exhaling loudly he nodded and took the pack. They only needed one, considering they are always traveling, never staying in one place too long.

They traveled the main road to their destination for most of the day but before they could reach their desired checkpoint they came across a situation.

"Hey check that cart there!"

"Stop squirming!"

"Gah! Let me go!"

A gang of bandits was attacking a caravan, the two looked at each other. Should they help? Or should they use this time to sneak by?

"Hey look! Two strangers over there!"

"Don't let them escape!"

"Get 'em!"

Looks like their helping. Shikamaru muttered something about it being a drag and Sakura made a witty remark, and with that they jumped in action.

Sakura dodged expertly and used her martial arts skills over her water bending, since she wasn't skillful enough to use it in a real fight, to subdue her enemies. Shikamaru using a similar technique only letting his enemies fall over themselves and run into things instead of hitting them.

"Well that was easy" Sakura muttered as she picked up a doll, walking over to the girl she saw had dropped it she knelt down and offered it to her.

"Is this yours?" she asked in a gentle voice, the girl nodded and took it from the older girls hands. Her eyes pooling with tears she hugged her doll and bowed.

"Thank you miss!" she cried, Sakura smiled and stood. Nodding to Shikamaru she asked who the leader was, a gruff looking man came forward with a grateful smile on his face.

"My companion and I would like to travel with you for the time being" Sakura bowed respectfully, Shikamaru doing them same. They rose when they heard the mans' bellowing laughter.

"Of course! It's the least we could do to repay you!" the man laughed haughtily and everyone joined in, voicing their praises and joy. Smiling the two joined the group and set out, they rode on the carriages or walked along side the people. Talking with the each other like old friends.

Dusk came quickly for the two friends, the caravan set up fires and tents. As it turned out these people were a mix of the lands, there were fire, earth, water and air benders mixed with ordinary people.

"Miss! Over here, you and your husband can sit here!" an old white haired man waved at them with a large grin on his face, there were red markings under his eyes and his hair was long and spiked in all directions.

"Were not married, were just from the same village" Shikamaru explained as he sat down, Sakura nodded and joined her friend. Positioned between the friendly geezer and her life long friend.

"We regard each other more as siblings, really. Thank you" Sakura added as she was offered a cup of tea, the older man blinked before bursting into a fit of laughter.

"Sorry, now I don't mean to pry but where did you two learn to fight like that? I've been to a lot of places and never have I seen a style like yours" he questioned and the two companions shared a glance.

"It is a style that was practiced in our village" Shikamaru summarized, taking a sip of his own tea, and Sakura nodded in agreement to his words. Back then you had to memorize all the moves in theory lessons before your actually taught them in a practical session, so it was a good thing for them since they had a basis to learn upon.

"I see, where exactly is your village? Does it have a name?" he asked, intrigued by the two. Sakura and Shikamaru paused; placing their cups at their laps they didn't utter a sound.

"I see that's a touchy subject, I apologize" the old man closed his eyes and took a sip of his tea. A woman passing around food broke the tension, the three took what they were offered with grateful words, when she left Sakura spoke out.

"Its not your fault, but may we know your name?" she asked and the man grinned at her.

"Only if you remove those hoods of yours" he chuckled and Sakura couldn't help but smile, looking at Shikamaru, the two moved their hands to their hoods and removed them in a synchronized manner, not on purpose mind you. Sakura's hair was still neatly tucked behind the cloak so he only saw some of her pink hair.

"My name is Jiraiya, may I know yours?" he asked pleasantly, Sakura smiled at Jiraiya who in turn blushed slightly.

"My name is Sakura and my friend is Shikamaru" she gestured to herself and her brother, the older man nodded.

"Well then, would you two like to accompany me to the eastern air temple? I would be very grateful of you would" he pleaded; Shikamaru grabbed Sakura's arm and excused them.

"Do you think we should go?" Sakura muttered as she looked over her shoulder, Jiraiya was gulping down his tea.

"Well the map says that the air temple is pretty far away from where we were heading but I think it would be simpler to go along with him" he reasoned, Sakura nodded looking at the map. Walking back to the fire they agreed that they would travel with him, soon after they decided it was time to rest.

"Were almost there" Jiraiya said without facing them, Sakura and Shikamaru looked at each other with similar expressions. That old man had said those same words six times! They were beginning to tire of his antics, either that or they were lost, and on a mountain top no less!

"Are you sure old man?" Shikamaru called out, thinking the same thing as his pink haired friend. They weren't used to the high altitudes and he could see it was affecting Sakura.

"Yes I am, we just need to pass this ledge and the temple will be in sight!" he faced them with a smile, before turning back and climbing up further. Sakura took a deep gulp of air, which barely seemed to do anything, before forcing one foot in front of the other.

"Hey Jiraiya, we need to rest, Sakura isn't used to the thin air!" Shikamaru called out as Sakura began to lag behind, said old man immediately turned around to see the girl was forced to one knee, gasping for breath.

"Sorry, I forgot the you folk had never been to the mountains" he said as he scratched the back of his head.

"No, lets keep going, I'm fine" Sakura sighed as she stood strait and continued to walk, the two looked at her wide eyed.

"But Sakura-"

"The sooner we get there the sooner we can rest and get used to the altitude" Sakura cut in as she trekked up the rocky hill, Jiraiya looked at Shikamaru with a raised eyebrow.

"Is she often like that?" he asked, Shikamaru sighed as he followed after his sister.

"More than often, troublesome girl" he muttered and Jiraiya chuckled as he followed them.

"There it is!" Sakura called out as the temples came into view, Sakura turned to her friends and smiled brightly at them. The younger male smirked at her antics while the older man laughed happily, quickening their pace they made it to the gates.

"Jiraiya! Your back!" a monk that spotted them called out, he was standing on the wall and waving happily.

"Good to be back! How's Naruto?" he asked as he waved back, before anyone could answer a loud noise was heard.

"PERVY SAGE!" an orange blur shot out of the gates and went strait for Jiraiya, but instead of waiting to be hit the old man simply sidestepped and the blur crashed into Sakura. Both sprawling to the ground, Sakura groaned in pain.

"Oh, sorry miss, I was trying to hit pervy sage" the blur, which was male, apologized. Sakura opened her eyes to be met with sky blue eyes and blonde hair, staring for a few moments she remembered her predicament.

"It's ok, but could you please get off? The snow is seeping through" she muttered the last part; the boy jumped into a standing position, spluttering apologies as he helped her up. Smiling she wiped the snow off and turned to Jiraiya.

"I take it when he says 'pervy sage' he's referring to you" Sakura assumed, the older male laughed sheepishly. The new blonde turned to Jiraiya, growling he pounced but the old man just hit the blonde on the head, causing him to face plant on the condensed snow.

"Naruto we have guests, have some manners" he said flatly, gesturing for the two to follow he began walking. Sakura paused and stared at the blonde who was rubbing his sore head and muttering insults, looking back up a Jiraiya she spoke.

"Are you sure he will be okay?" she asked and the pervy sage smiled.

"Don't worry, his head has been through worse" he quipped before strutting through the gate, helping the boy up she smiled at him. Smiling in return he introduced himself, Sakura was about to but her head felt light and her head began to spin, her mind went blank and her eyes became blind. The last thing she heard was her surrogated brother calling out her name, panicking.


	9. Neko Sakura

A pure white cat with stunning green eyes glared at the blonde woman who now was acting in a very sheepish and embarrassed manner. A dark haired woman shifted nervously; clearly this wasn't going to end well since both women- uh both females were very… tenacious.

"You want to kill me don't you?" the older woman, Tsunade, asked when the female cat hissed angrily. The dark haired girl, Shizune, could only take a wary step back with her pet pig.

The cat growled a bit but otherwise settled down, sitting patiently on the desk that was located in the private office of Senju Corporations: a business that was number one in the world for its medical knowledge and study, it could take on the government and probably win.

But this is not the problem; the problem stands thus:

Sakura Haruno, Tsunade's number one apprentice, had gotten sick with a mild cold. Tsunade gave her some flu pills that actually turned out to be experimental tablets for animals, thus overnight Sakura was turned into a beautiful white cat with no currently known cure.

"Look Sakura, we'll do everything we can to find an antidote soon, in the mean time I'll simply mark you off with a paid vacation, so relax and enjoy yourself" Tsunade 'reasoned' with the white furred feline, which was odd since Sakura had naturally pink hair.

The female cat looked a little miffed but nodded, good thing she was still smart. The cat jumped down and looked around the floor, looking up curiously the busty blonde grinned as she picked her up.

"You'll be staying at my house, I have a bunch of cat stuff that I've been meaning to throw out, and the last person was an old crazy cat lady. She died and her stuff was left there" Tsunade continued to talk and rant about anything and everything that popped into the older womans head, during this Sakura fell asleep in the womans arms purring.

When Sakura woke up the first thing she noticed was that she was not home, the second was that she was smaller. She did the felines equivalent to a sigh as she remembered the passed days events, stretching happily she trotted lazily to the kitchen where her temporary 'owner' would be.

"Ah, morning Sakura" Tsunade said when the human-turned-cat jumped onto the island bench. The blonde woman placed a plate full of lightly cook bacon with various healthy choices for cats, Sakura meowed a thank you before eating at a reasonable pace.

"I have to go to work, behave while I'm gone" Tsunade said as she left the room, gathered whatever she went to get and left the house. The former pinkette sighed before jumping down and trotting over to the bay window, stretching she happily laid down onto the soft cushion and enjoyed a good sunbathing. Purring all the while.

"Come on Sasuke-teme!" a blonde cat called, looking behind him to see the dark furred cat taking his sweet time. Sasuke's near black fur had the strangest tinge of blue, his eyes a similar shade but darker. The blonde cat, Naruto, was quiet the opposite; he had stunning blue cat eyes with bright golden blonde fur, their personalities are complete opposites as well with Sasuke being serious and solemn while Naruto was playful and outgoing.

"Whatever" was the only reply Sasuke gave the blonde feline. The two were currently running and hiding from Sasuke's older siblings, Itachi, Madara, and Tobi because the two younger males had 'accidentally' dumped a bucket of water on top of the five cats.

While they were certain they were reasonably safe for the time being Naruto wanted to put extra distance in the gap just in case. The blonde cat climbed a tree and landed safely on the brick wall that lay beneath its branches, knowing his friend would follow, and jumped down to the soft grass on the other side.

"Where are you going dobe?" his friend asked when he landed behind Naruto, the young feline simply grinned.

"Yesterday I saw the old hag that lives here come home with a new cat" Naruto replied, Sasuke tilted his head to the side.

"Male or female?"

"Female, definitely female, she was so pretty! She had green eyes and pure white fur!" the blonde practically yelled, Sasuke nodded in agreement. It was rare for a white cat to be born around this region, plus the green eyes would probably make her exotic looking.

With a nod from the dark furred cat the two set out to find the white feline, there was no scent of her in the garden so they could safely assume that she would still be in the house. Knowing that the blonde human wouldn't be home at this time, the two quickly made their way to the building.

They heard her before they saw her, but when they did all they could do was stare. Her light fur glistened in the late morning sun, her right ear twitched every now and then while her purring was loud and content as she slept.

"See, told you so" Naruto said in a hushed tone, unwilling to wake her up. Moving so he could get a better look Sasuke jumped onto the small balcony meant for pot plants, making sure he didn't block the sun while Naruto followed suit.

"For once, yeah" was all Sasuke could say, they continued to watch her and purr quietly. The serene moment was broken with an angry yell.

"Found you!" the oldest of the dark furred siblings yelled, the two younger cats whizzed around to see Madara growling at them. This of course woke the white furred cat up, looking confused as she stared at the scene before her.

"Found who?" Sakura asked, yawning away the remnants of sleep before noticing the two males at the window.

"Who are you guys?" the former pinkette questioned, her tone revealed lingering tiredness still evident and a bit of wary aggression but curiosity most of all was noticeable.

"Your new around the neighborhood and so we decided to visit and welcome you, but you were sleeping" Sasuke said coolly, his gaze relaxed but his ear was trained in the direction of the black cat growling at them.

"Okay, but that doesn't explain why there's an angry cat growling at you two, and you still haven't answered my question" she remarked, lightly glaring at the two.

"I'm Naruto! Nice to meet you!" the blonde cat yelled and Sakura fought the erg to pin her ears to her head, the darker cat glared at him before turning back to the white female.

"My name is Sasuke-" he was cut off when the black growling cat lunged and shoved them both off the windowsill, grinning victoriously before turning to the female.

"I'm Madara, what's your name?" he said in a slight purr. Sakura studied the male for a short time, dully noting that she could understand them, before answering.

"Sakura, would you mind telling me why you pushed them off so violently?" she asked. Madara grinned, her name was beautiful and her curious green feline eyes made him want to nuzzle her.

"They tipped water on me and the others" he replied, and before she could question who the 'others' were a loud sound was heard.

"Madara-Chan! Did you find them?" a childish voice pierced the air, Sakura looked passed the large dark cat to see another dark furred feline running at full speed towards them.

"Yeah, but don't worry, I got em good" Madara grinned as he looked at the dirtied cats who glared in return. The childish cat, little smaller than Madara, looked past him to see Sakura and was immediately charmed by the delicate feline.

"Who's the pretty kitty?" he said excitedly as he jumped up and pawed at the glass window.

"Her name is Sakura, she's new here," the larger cat said, smiling at the white cat on the other side of the glass.

"Hi Sakura-Chan, my name is Tobi, Tobi thinks Sakura-Chan is very pretty! Does Sakura-Chan want to come out and play?" all ears perked at the prospect of playing with the kitty.

"Thank you, but I don't think my mistress would like it if I went outside just yet" Sakura explained, all their ears drooped at her words.

"But the old hag isn't here! You could come out and play with us and she would never know! Please Sakura-Chan?" Naruto begged, his tail twitching nervously.

The former pinkette looked from one male to another, her tail curling in thought and her ear twitched thrice before she made her answer.

"I suppose, but I cant leave the yard okay?" Sakura relented as she stood up from her laying position and walked over to the window.

"What are you doing?" Sasuke asked, his tone curious. Sakura spared him a knowing smile before standing on her hind legs and unlatching the lock on the window, pushing on the glass like a door the Sakura calmly walked out onto the sill and smiled at everyone.

"So what game are we going to play?" she asked happily, the blonde cat grinned excitedly.

"We can play predator and pray!" he yelled, this time Sakura did pin her ears to her head. He was mighty loud. Sasuke thwacked a paw over the blondes' ear and hissed at him.

"Shut up dobe, your to loud" he growled, Naruto grumbled something rude that Sakura picked up but the others apparently didn't.

"Um… what's predator and pray?" Sakura asked timidly, the others stared at her for a long while.

"You don't know?" Madara asked and Sakura nodded shyly, he looked to the others before turning back to her.

"Sakura… how much time have you spent with other cats?" Sakura visibly flinched at the older males' question.

"This would be the first time," she muttered audibly, the others gasped at her and she lowered her head and turned away. Great, the first chance she had at cat-play and she ruined it.

"So you've spent your entire life with humans, and never once spent time with your own kind?" a new voice spoke. Sakura jumped and hurriedly spun around to see a slick black cat with red eyes walk out from the shadow of a tree, his dark fur immediately told her he was related to Sasuke and Madara.

"Yes" Sakura said, quickly realizing that she was lying to them. She kept her head down, expecting them to treat her like a freak. What she didn't expect was to be tackled by a black ball of fur that began rubbing her cheek vigorously.

"Aw! Sakura-Chan is so cute! Since you don't know much about being a cat we can teach you!" Tobi exclaimed excitedly, Sakura ears twitched at the volume but was currently distracted by her cheek going numb.

"O-okay" Sakura unsurely. Mentally she berated herself; she sounded like a lovesick high schooler! Seriously, one male cat gives her affection and she turns into a stuttering mess!

"Tobi stop it, she doesn't know what your doing" the new comer said evenly, Tobi paused in his affection to stare at the female that was half sprawled under him.

"Tobi is nuzzling! This is how cats give affection!" he said happily before continuing.

"Tobi, could you please stop, I would like to learn that game Naruto mentioned" immediately Tobi was off her and bouncing around babbling about the game.

"Well, the rules are simple: one cat is the predator while the others are the prey, the predator tries to catch the prey until there are none left" Madara explained, a grin forming on his face.

"When does the game end?" the ex-pinkette asked, tilting her head slightly. The un-named cat spoke first.

"When all the prey are caught or when the predator gives up" Sakura nodded at the new information.


	10. One Into Two

To say that Sakura was disappointed in herself in an understatement, she was _appalled_ with herself; she was _loathing_ herself at the moment. She had done horridly at Kakashi's survival straining, all she had done was scream and faint. Literally.

Sighing she turned to her side, her soft covers shifting underneath her as she moved, and stared at the wall. She couldn't believe she had fallen for such an _obvious_ illusion, like hell Sasuke would have been able to _breath_ with that much shrapnel stuck in him, and she had studied it!

…

That was it. She had studied it in theory, in a classroom, but had failed to initiate it in battle and thus put her teammates in danger and delayed them to the point they almost didn't pass Kakashi's damned test.

She needed to learn how to commit theory teachings into practical experiences, but even if she could there would be no way she could win a fight. She had no bloodline like Sasuke, she wasn't a chakra powerhouse like Naruto, nor did she have some special jutsu like Kakashi. All she had was chakra control, and that wont save anyone in battle. Sitting up Sakura decided she needed to visit her old sanctuary.

The library! Sakura smiled to herself, the familiar scent of old books and dust comforted her. Going to the ninja section Sakura decided she should at least learn all she can on the matter, since it is her only strong point.

'Chakra is the lifeblood of a shinobi; it allows them to increase strength and perform jutsu, this is by combining physical energy with spiritual energy the right amount and thus producing chakra.

There are five main types of chakra techniques shinobi can use; these are also called elemental types/affinities:

Fire

Water

Wind

Earth

Lightning

Some can combine two to create special techniques but this usually needs a bloodline limit known as a kekkei genkai, though some can be created without a bloodline but require perfect chakra control and focus, the shinobi must also have mastery of two elements and able to coordinate them at the same time…'

Sakura sighed, she knew all this already; she read the first paragraph again in sheer boredom. Physical and spiritual energy combined make chakra…

Combined… what about when the two energies are separate? Can they be used at all? If so how does one use them? They talk about the merging of the two but what about using them separately?

Sakura scoured the library looking for any hint. None was found; huffing Sakura went back to her house to think things over.

She knew that chakra was created by the two energies and that the two automatically combined, so the two energies were already combined once chakra is unlocked. How does somebody split them then?

Sighing Sakura realized she was thinking in circles, she knew that meditating allowed one easier control of chakra. Well then, tomorrow she would meditate while waiting for Kakashi and hopefully find something useful on this. Sakura had a quick shower and went to bed on the thoughts of her current subject.

Dawn came; Sakura woke, ate breakfast thanks to her paranoia about Kakashi, and left the door with her regular outfit. She blushed when she saw the Uchiha and waved, as expected he gave no positive reaction, but instead of trying to grab his attention Sakura walked over to one of the training stumps and settled down in a crossed-legged position with her hands tangling from her knees.

She took deep calm breaths and looked inside her, after what felt like seconds but in reality was nearly half an hour, and found her chakra. She centered it to just below the ribs and began trying to separate the properties, she felt a strange tinge and grabbed onto it; pulling it away she immediately knew it was spiritual energy, looking for the physical she found it, she tried pulling the two away from their combination but all she got was a small tugging sensation.

"Sakura-Chan!" Sakura jumped out of her trance, trying to calm her rapid heartbeat Sakura turned to find her blonde teammate running towards her from the bridge. Growling she hit him on the head when he was in reach, he face planted the ground.

"Dammit Naruto! I was meditating, you don't call out to people like that when they're trying to concentrate!" Sakura chastised and sat back down, trying to meditate but with Naruto around its like trying to get Sasuke to complement her: impossible.

When the thought crossed her mind Sakura frowned, Naruto thought she was frowning at him and kept quite as he stayed a safe distance away and Sasuke didn't give a damn. There it was again, that thought of Sasuke that didn't cause her heart flutter and her mind go all fuzzy, did Sasuke really care about her higher than a teammate? No he didn't, he hated her because of her behavior and wouldn't bother trying to be friends because of it.

She should try to stop those tendencies, now that she thought about it they were annoying… like he said, Sakura blushed at her past actions and felt ashamed of herself, she was a ninja and yet she acted like a princess! She pushed those thoughts back for later contemplation and tried to separate the two energies, but like always the boys began arguing again.

Just as Sakura was about to hit them and tell them both to shut up Kakashi poofed into existence, smiling at them in a way she was quickly coming to realize that it meant he had some cruel activity he would force them to do.

"Yo" he said just before Naruto screamed about his tardiness, Sakura looked confused and looked at the sun. It was right above them, how long was she meditating?

Her eyes widened and she slapped her overly-large-forehead as she remembered that meditation causes time of the mind to slow, therefore what feels like seconds or minutes is really hours or even, for some, days.

Standing up she joined her team and waited for Kakashi to dish out some torture, as it turns out he's going to give them some physical training… shit. They were forced to do ten laps of the village and then run back to their training grounds and do twenty laps of the border of the area, after that they sparred with each other. They took a ten-minute break and then began push-ups, sit-ups, and anything else Kakashi thought of at the time. Evil bastard.

During the ten minute break however Kakashi pulled Sakura to the side and told her she was going to be practicing her fighting with him, to say Sakura was both thrilled and devastated was an understatement; she was elated she could train with her sensei for once but horrified that she would be doing more work.

The boys were kept busy and Kakashi helped Sakura with her form and attacks, then her blocks and even taught her a few moves. Kakashi was pleasantly surprised to find that his little kunoichi was a fast learner, she just needed to increase her physical strength and, given time, she would be able to hold her own in a taijutsu match against her teammates.

That and she really liked evasion, at first Kakashi could hit her easily but as the day wore on it seemed she was picking things up fast, he knew she was observant but didn't think she would actually use that in battle. He actually expected her to be ogling over Sasuke to see if he was watching but she kept her attentive eyes on him as she tried to land a blow while dodging his, despite her obvious fatigue she seemed to continuously push herself.

Of course all of Kakashi's elated feeling for his students' new vigor in training vanished when she collapsed, hitting the ground with a soft thud that the boys didn't even notice. The silver haired Jounin ran to her side and lifted her up, her chakra was barely there and her breathing was rapid and uneven like her heart rate, the boys finally noticed when Kakashi picked her up and started running at top speed to the hospital, the boys trying to keep up. He would give them lessons on awareness soon, not noticing that their own teammate collapsed and all made him a little angry.

Sasuke was leaning against the wall as he watched Naruto pace back and forth and Kakashi was sitting down reading his book as a distraction, but he could tell the older male was worried, begrudgingly Sasuke admitted to himself that he was sort of worried for his pink haired teammate as well.

Though he _hated_ her at the moment as well, because of her weakness their training was stopped and so he wasn't getting any stronger, he hated how she tried to impress him by fighting Kakashi and she hated how she just collapsed instead of saying she needed rest. She should have said that, then at least he would be able to train, and then she wouldn't be dragging him down.

The door opened to reveal a smiling nurse, Sakura following but her walk was slightly wobbly and she definitely looked tired. The nurse said Sakura was to go home and rest, after a few days she would be allowed to train again but Sasuke didn't like that, knowing Kakashi he would postpone training until Sakura was well.

Dammit! At this rate he would never be strong enough to face Itachi, and it was all because Sakura couldn't handle a single training session. He glared at the back of her head, Kakashi and Naruto at her sides as they walked her home, but she didn't expect her to turn around with a glare of her on.

"I know you don't like me Sasuke, but that gives you no right to glare at me like I caused a flash flood. Oh and by the way, you think I'm useless and annoying right? Well guess what! I. Don't. _Care_." and with that the young kunoichi walked into her apartment complex and let the three males stand there with wide eyes.

"Sakura is growing up" Kakashi commented happily before walking away with his favorite book, Naruto mumbled something about confusing girls and not bothering her when meditating and left. Sasuke stared at her balcony for a while, expecting her to come out and fantasize or apologize but she didn't. Grunting he made his way to the Uchiha training grounds, there he vented his frustrations.

For the next three days Sakura slept, ate, bathed and meditated, with her teammates regularly visiting her and her mother fretting and scolding them for being so loud when her 'Sakura-hime' needs rest. Though a quick word with Kakashi smoothed things out, Sakura glared at her sensei.

"You sweet talked my mother?" she questioned with a dangerous voice, she had been protective of her mother ever since her good-for-nothing father left, and her mother had been the same with her. Kakashi grinned sheepishly and scratched his cheek, sensing the deadly aura he made a mental note not to flirt with a Haruno.

"If you mean flirting then no, I gave her a guilt talk" he smiled, Sakura still looked a little irritated but her deadly aura was gone so he took that as acceptance. He wondered why she hated the idea of him trying to court her mother… was it because he was her sensei? No she would have said it would be awkward or something, she was probably just protective of her mother when it came to dating… hang on.

"Sakura, where's your father?" Kakashi asked curiously, her shoulders tensed as anger and hatred filled her eyes. Obviously he trod on a touchy subject… oops

"He's gone" was all she said and the room filled with a awkward and heavy silence, Sakura decided to break it and asked Naruto about going to Ichiraku's when she got out, Naruto ranted on about the restaurant and the room turned cheerful and light hearted once again. Looks like he would have to do some snooping…

When Sakura was well enough to train Kakashi actually had a mission for them, the rite of passage: catch the cat.

Now when the three heard it they thought it would be quick and that they would be back to training but as it turns out… this cat has experience, it avoided traps and even managed to get the food without getting caught, clearly they would have to change their tactics. So they forced Kakashi to henge as an old man who just got back from fishing and shared some of his fish, Naruto pounced out and grabbed it on Sakura's signal. This mission took two hours, and that's not counting planning time.

"Not bad" Kakashi said as they left the tower "how about we go to Ichiraku?" he offered and the reactions are as followed:

Cheered happily

Sighed

No response

Take a gander who did what.

Naruto slurped happily on his fifth bowl while Sakura neatly started on her second, Sasuke on his third and Kakashi same as Sakura. The pinkette thanked the staff and put the necessary money on the table and left to go to the training grounds, hopefully no one would be there and she could meditate.

Thankfully there was no one, sitting in her previous spot and same position she started again, three hours that felt like one minute passed as she separated the energies and stored it separated from each other, storing her spiritual chakra away she drew on her physical energy and compressed it in her fist.

Sakura slowly opened her eyes, still focusing on the physical energy, and stood slowly. She aimed a punch at the ground only to stumble and fall when her former friend called out her horrible nickname.

"Hey forehead!" Sakura glared at the source of the voice as she stood from her fallen position, dusting herself off she looked at the blonde female.

"What Ino-pig?" Sakura retorted non-to-gently. The blonde grinned triumphantly and popped her hip out as she placed a hand on her hip.

"Where's your team? Did Sasuke ditch you? No surprise there, no one would willingly train with you!" Ino laughed and Sakura glared, waiting for a few seconds she finally answered.

"I came to train, unlike you" Sakura stated shortly, she wanted her ex-friend gone so she can work on her technique.

"You call sitting there and doing nothing training?" Ino retorted and Sakura had to repress a growl, she was starting to get on her nerves. She never had much patience for stupid people, Naruto being a keen example.

"Its called meditating" she corrected but the blonde just scoffed arrogantly and shifted to a pose that matched the gesture.

"Looked like you were about to hit the ground, what were you really doing forehead?" the purple clad kunoichi asked with a slightly tired tone, not believing the pinkette.

Sakura did growl that time; closing her eyes she calmed herself as she channeled her physical energy like last time, raising her fist she slammed it down and successfully cracked the ground around her, the earth shook but other than the cracks it didn't do much.

Ino looked on amazed, at a loss for words _thank kami_, Sakura grinned triumphantly and began walking to her old friend; passing her she finally answered her.

"_That_ is what I was doing" and with that the pinkette walked away, going to find a quiet place since team sevens training ground seemed to attract people, probably since Sasuke's there.

Sakura sat on a park bench, her favorite park actually, its pretty far from the residential areas so not many people some here and that means that the government didn't keep it in order so the plants grew large and wild.

The pinkette smiled at the large oak tree surrounded by cherry blossoms and evergreen pine trees, the smell of pine with the colours of orange, green and pink made Sakura relax. Her parents would take her here instead of the other ones because the bullies were there, watching the scene of forever falling leaves and petals Sakura allowed herself to be lost in thought.

It seemed that she had gotten more and more annoyed about the Uchiha's fangirls and rivals always disturbing her training and thinking that she's just waiting for her 'Sasuke-kun'.

Watching a particular petal delicately flutter down to the ground Sakura frowned. Annoying, that's what Sasuke had called her countless times; she almost found it ironic how she sees him in a similar light now, only Sakura actually respects and acknowledges him as a powerful ninja. She watched as the petal finally touched the ground; did people see her like that?

Did they see her as a delicate flower trying to fly but is really just slowly falling to the cold hard ground were she will die?

…

No, she wouldn't play the part of the delicate flower slowly falling to the reality of her delusional dance, she would bloom and let the knowledge of her power fly with the wind… like the petals.

Now that she thought about it, she had been in a delusional dance; fooling herself to love Sasuke and wasting her time that she could have spent training, she had gotten weak because of her own inability to stand on her own.

Standing suddenly Sakura walked over to the drifting blossoms and smiled, watching how the twirled and jumped in the breeze in a whimsical dance of delicacy. Yet no one knew of the powerful life stored in a single petal, it would either grow and bloom next to its mother or give its life to fuel the tree that gave such flowers.

Sakura began moving. At first in timid, small, movements but they steadily grew as she began to dance with the petals and leaves that fell, albeit a bit clumsily but her goal was to be able to dance without disturbing the dancing colours.

By the time Sakura had gotten home it was well past the coming hour of the dark. Despite her exhaustion she smiled brightly, she was far from reaching any of her goals but she was at peace with her mind. With Sasuke no longer plaguing her thoughts she was able to think freely and clearly, it seems 'Sasuke-kun' was a barrier in disguise and now that it was gone she wondered what she would be able to accomplish.

The next day Sakura rose extra early and made a healthy breakfast, she was about to leave the house when she felt that ever-present restriction that came with her outfit. Sighing she went back up stairs and stared at her wardrobe, she didn't have much but there was some things that she could use.

Sakura grabbed a long-sleeved wool shirt that came a little passed the wrists and the hem coming down halfway to her thighs, the back bore her clan symbol of a white ring. She kept her biker shorts as they were and left the house, going to her park she set a timer and began her meditation.

Again, she felt the mixture of the two energies and, again, she separated them. Pushing the physical energy to her hand she opened her eyes and brought out a kunai, reminding herself to buy some proper ones she cut it down her palm.

Now she expected to feel pain or see blood seep out, she _didn't_ expect there to be no cut at all. She poked her kunai into her palm and pressed down but the kunai did not pierce, more specifically her skin did not allow the kunai to pierce the skin. Sakura replaced the kunai with her fingertips, feeling no mark and her skin noticeably harder, now this is something she can work with.

Going back to meditating Sakura traded the physical or the spiritual, Sakura spread it evenly throughout her body and was hit with an overwhelming sensation. She could feel the world around her, the trees and the water that traveled through it, the birds flapping their wings as they took to the sky. _Everything_.

She clicked the bell on the timer just before it rang; opening her eyes she immediately closed them again. Spiritual energy enhances the senses, so that means that her eyes were extra sensitive. Opening her eyes slowly Sakura looked around, she saw a fly, now this wasn't amazing but the fact that she could see each individual wing beat was… pretty amazing.

Releasing her energy Sakura stood and went to the meeting place, when she got there Sasuke was leaning in his usual pose. She waved offhandedly and continued to meditate, and like before Naruto came screaming but instead of yelling at him she asked for a spar.

At first Naruto was quiet, there's a first, before jumping and grinning as he ran into the middle of the training ground. He turned and waited as Sakura took her time making her way there, focusing her energies as she went.

"Naruto, for now could you just send clones?" Sakura asked as she set into a fighting stance, Naruto looked a little perplexed but complied nonetheless. He summoned three clones and sent one after her, she focused the right energy into her leg as she ducked and did a roundhouse kick.

The clone blocked it but was sent crashing into a tree a few meters away, Naruto and his clones stared for a long time before he summoned more and sent the first two at her. The two circled her and Sakura focused spiritual energy to her ears, the sensation was odd to say the least; she could hear every step, every ruffle of cloth, every _breath_ the two made as clearly as though Naruto was speaking to her.

When the two struck Sakura kept her eyes closed as she quickly 'killed' them, when she opened her eyes she smiled at Naruto. Who looked as enthusiastic as usual, giving a thumbs up to Sakura he grinned.

"Alright Sakura-Chan! Now I'm going to go full on! Shadow clone jutsu!" and with that a hundred Naruto's filled the open space and left little for Sakura to maneuver. Taking a calming breath Sakura plunged into battle, during which time she had to focus on balancing both energies and fighting.

Growling in frustration Sakura merged her two energies and replaced herself with a long just in time to avoid a barrage of a Naruto dog pile, sighing in relief she slumped in the tree branch she was resting in. Sakura knew that his numbers would nullify her new technique for the simple fact that it enhanced taijutsu only, she needed to increase her chakra capacity and learn new jutsu otherwise she would be thrashed in a real battle.

Looking behind her she noticed that Naruto was sending his clones to look for her, grinning as a plan formed in her mind Sakura began climbing. She may not have what her teammates have, but she has something that she has and she's going to use it.

Waiting until only the original was left Sakura stored as much physical energy that felt right in her legs and gave a strong push from the branch she was on, Sakura flew for a short while before plummeting to the earth. Landing just behind Naruto she waited until he spun around before pulling out a kunai and lunging at his throat. Stopping just as the tip was about to pierce his skin, the two were frozen in those positions like a sculpture depicting battle.

"Thanks Naruto" Sakura said as she put her kunai away, Naruto nodded and continued to stare at her in awe.

"That was really awesome…" he muttered before springing into a long rant about 'how cool Sakura-Chan was' and all that, Sakura risked a peek at the Uchiha to find him glaring. At what? Sighing she decided to see what was wrong.

"Is there a reason why no matter what I do you just seem to hate me? Even if it has nothing to do with you?" Sakura inquired, this boy was really beginning to get on her nerves.

"Hn" was all he said.

"What the fuck was that! That's not even a word and it sure as hell isn't an answer" Sakura grabbed the scruff of Sasuke's shirt and jerked him forward "all right Uchiha, you listen now and you listen good. I am training to improve _myself_, I'm not doing it to garner your attention, but even though I think you're an arrogant prick I still respect as a shinobi. The _least_ you could do is respect me as a kunoichi" Sakura violently shoved the Uchiha heir away, making him hit the rail, and walked away.

As soon as Sakura's feet left the bridge she spun around to smirk at glaring Sharingan eyes, her kunai pressing against his own. She added her energy and shoved him back and his feet left the ground, when he hit the railing he flipped and landed in the water. Sakura walked over casually and peered over the edge, leaning her arms against the railing comfortably.

"Didn't expect that now did you" Sakura said mockingly, she was enjoying this immensely. If she had known being on the Uchiha's bad side was this much fun she would have stopped chasing him years ago.

He glared at her and she gave an unimpressed stare, finally losing his patience he threw his kunai at her shoulder expecting her to cry and move out of the way or get hit and cry. He _didn't_ expect the kunai to bounce off her arm with a 'clink' and plummet into the water, her demeanor never changed and her eyes this time gave a pointed flat look.

"Nice to know I can trust you, I don't care if you hate me Sasuke. All I want is your acknowledgement, and maybe your respect, as me being a ninja" she said finally, he growled again. Getting out of the water he finally answered her.

"Someone as weak as you cant be a ninja, the only reason why you beat Naruto is because it was a spar, in a real battle you would be dead" Sasuke finished and Sakura bristled at his words, Kakashi popped up with a 'yo' but Sakura ignored him completely.

"Alright then, lets spar" Sasuke scoffed at her words, looking unimpressed.

"I would flatten you in seconds" he responded.

"Then you have nothing to worry about" Sakura retorted as she walked into the clearing, Sasuke followed. Naruto scrambled to the bridge and quickly told Kakashi what had happened while the two got into position.

"Think we should stop them?" Naruto questioned, apprehensive of what might come.

"No, it will a good learning experience, if they choose to learn from it" Kakashi said as he watched attentively, his treasured book tucked safely away.

Sakura was the first to move, aiming a punch that she suspected would miss. It did, so Sakura turned it into a flip just in time to dodge the swiping kick that would've tripped her. Responding by using a hand to swing her body around and hitting the surprised boy in the side.

He flew and crashed into a tree, causing it to break. He stood up slowly as he glared, his Sharingan spinning rapidly as he shot forward. She dodged every hit he tried to land and he did the same, the two were in their own world now, one was dancing as the feel of the spar surrounded her while the other gave the intent to kill. Jumping backwards Sasuke's hands blurred through the sings.

"Fire style: fire ball jutsu!" he yelled, pulling his hands to his face he breath in and blew fire. Now Sakura had no idea if she was fire proof and so jumped out of the way, though she did leave her leg to be trapped by the flame.

As it turns out she still feels the heat but ti doesn't burn, her skin was flawless and she smirked at the wide-eyed Uchiha.


	11. Shugo Sakura

A small pinkette looked at her new home, an apartment at the top of the building. The view was great, she could see most of the city and could see the beach, sighing she got up and prepared for school.

Sakura put on the mandatory blue shorts and black shirt with a blue tie, as well as a blue jacket to finish up the uniform. Adding three chains on the shorts and a black spiked leather bracelet on her right hand, a red skull earring on her left ear.

Having her pink hair cover her forehead and eyes but some of her hair was brushed back so she had clear vision with her right eye, grabbing her blue bag she slung it over her shoulder wanting to run from her dreaded school.

When the young pinkette finally reached the school she found the entire entranced blocked by squealing girls, on the outside she looked mildly annoyed but on the inside she was nervous and wanted to stand back and wait but knew she couldn't. So putting on a blank face she walked casually forward, tapping a random girl on the shoulder.

"Oi, move" she said, her voice sounding less than feminine. The girl stared for a few seconds, the pinkettes face moved from bored to slightly annoyed and the girl woke from her daze and gushed about the student who tapped her shoulder.

"Oh! Haruno-kun! I'm so sorry I didn't notice you!" the girl blushed and stepped aside, everyone else mimicking her action when they heard her say 'Haruno-kun' and they all stared and gushed at the 'boy'.

That's right, everyone here thinks Sakura Haruno: female student of moon class is Saku Haruno: male student of moon class and the cool & aloof boy that all girls wanted to date. Why they would want to date someone that barely talked is beyond the young girl.

Walking past the group of students she noticed that the cause of the blockage was in fact because of the student council known as the Guardians of Seiyo Academy.

Lets introduce them shall we? First there's the kings chair, Sasuke Uchiha: a stoic figure that treats everyone the same and handles all situations responsibly and efficiently, everyone believes he's charming; she just thinks he's arrogant.

In the jacks' chair, Kiba Inuzuka: dog lover and all-round sport maniac, he's very charismatic and easily excited, accepts any challenge that involves sport and is not very book smart.

Aces chair, Naruto Uzumaki: straight up, an idiot, he also complains about anything and runs in headfirst into any battle and doesn't think things through and whines when they don't go as 'planned'. He loves ramen and is an all right guy when you get over his stupid-ness.

Then there's the queens chair, Ino Yamanaka: a polite young girl who is kind to everyone, her family owns a flower company or something, personally I think she might be a little more eccentric than she lets on.

"Ah! The guardians! They're so cool!"

"Look how cute Kiba-kun's puppy is!"

"Ino-Chan looks so nice!" other such exclamations were thrown here and there while the male-assumed-girl walked into the building, not looking at anything in particular.

Sitting in the second back seat by the window Sakura looked out the window with mildly bored look on her face as she remembered her first day. She didn't know how she was mistaken a boy, or as a cool one, but maybe a dreaded recap would clear up some things.

"_Now class I would like to introduce new student that came from America! Don't worry he speaks perfect Japanese, now Mr. Haruno will you please introduce yourself?" the teacher asked and the pinkette looked on nervously._

_She didn't know what to say, she was so nervous! She would probably make a fool of herself again and end up being bullied like back in America, sighing to herself the pinkette looked out the window. The class was waiting so she might as well get it over with, the less she says the less they can bully her with._

"_Yo" was all she could say, and even then it was a mumble, she kept her eyes on the outside world so she wouldn't see their smirking faces. Instead of hearing snickering, though, she heard the sounds of awe, taking a peek she saw their faces and looked on with mild curiosity._

"_Haruno-kun is so cool!" one of the girls squealed, the entire class joining in._

"_What's your name?" another girl asked quickly._

"_Saku-"_

"_Saku-kun you're so cute, can I sit next to you?" a girl called out before the small girl could tell her name. She sighed; she wanted to tell everyone that it was a misunderstanding but was afraid to be called unfeminine or something to give them ammo for insults._

_She silently cursed her father, he was in the process of writing her application and medical form when uncle Jiraiya had burst in, her dad had tried to finish it but forgot all about it when her uncle showed his new pervy book. When it was time to give the forms her perverted father had zoomed through it without thinking, this meant through all of those minor events Sakura was turned into Saku._

The teacher walked in and the class settled down, the guardians had some duty to do today so they had first session off. So no Sasuke or Naruto in this class, though Kiba was older by a year but acted like Naruto, who of which acts like a three year old.

Opening her book the pinkette paid attention and took extra notes; she had no friends but a lot of admirers. Everyone wanted to date someone she wasn't or get to know 'him' and while Sakura had wanted to know what it was like to date she didn't feel any emotional attraction to anyone in the entire school, sighing again she closed her book and went out to have lunch.

The day was much the same, stay as silent as possible and only talk when necessary. When the bell signaling end of school sounded through the school everyone ran around trying to get home as soon as possible, Sakura just waited in the parking lot for her dad to pick her up. As usual he was late and some girls had even begun staying extra late just to watch her… creepy.

"Yo" her father said in a cool, solemn, tone. Sakura nodded and got in the passenger seat, they didn't exchange any other words as they left the school with the girl squealing 'cool parents!' or something.

Once a safe distance from school Sakura brushed her hair back to show her whole face and grinned at her father, he chuckled at her while she giggled.

"Told ya to papa, they stay extra late just to stalk me!" she called out; he smiled at her as he parked the car in their spot, helping with the groceries they made it to the top floor making light conversation. Sakura made dinner, helped with the dishes, did her homework, showered, brushed her teeth, said goodnight to her papa and went to bed.

Staring up at the night sky through her window Sakura let her mind wander, she hadn't been able to sleep so took to star gazing. Her life had been so mixed up and yet so organized: fool the entire school about who you really are and try not to let your real self slip through, try not to cause your father distress. A star shot across the sky suddenly and Sakura gasped at the sight.

Putting her hands together in front of her chest Sakura closed her eyes made a wish.  
_'Let me be able to be my true self, please' _was all she prayed for as she wandered of to sleep.

Sakura bit back a scream as she stared at the three round objects in her bed, three different colored eggs sat comfortably among her sheets. She lightly touched one, and sure enough it was warm, no doubt they would hatch soon.

Shuffling off her bed she grabbed her bag and stuffed a fluffy towel in it, she placed the eggs in carefully to keep them warm and quickly got ready for school, praying that she wouldn't be caught.

Leaving breakfast for her papa she ran out the door and walked to school. Along the way she thought about each egg, one was red with red spheres and white circles, it had a bunch of black sparkles with two battle-axes in a cross at the front.

The blue one had white stars and blue music notes lined around the egg, it had two microphones crossed at the front.

The green one had little witches hats dancing around it with little crescent moons dotted here and there, on the front it had two broom sticks crossed in an 'X' shape.

She quickly closed her bag as she neared the school, and like bloody usual the guardian blocked the gate by standing there and letting the students pile up. Growling to herself she just stood there, she really didn't want all eyes on her like yesterday otherwise they might pile up just so she would speak.

"_Then why don't you jump over?"_ before Sakura could question where the small voice came from she felt her body move without her consent, turning towards the wall of the school Sakura jumped _over_ it and landed silently on the grass on the other side, her body frozen in the crouched position.

When Sakura could move she looked from left to right, hoping no one had seen, but as luck would have it a certain blonde was looking at her with wide eyes. Luckily no one else was in the right position to see but the blue-eyed boy stared at her, obviously the ramen lover thought she was a boy but the point was is that what she just did was out of character.

What was the first thing she did? Run, obviously. Sakura took off like a fricking bullet straight towards the school, she didn't look behind her and she sure as hell didn't bother hoping that he didn't approach her on it because she _knew_ he would, with or without his fellow guardians.

Skidding to a stop she actually took a look around to find that she had run into one of the music rooms, looking around she felt the sudden urge to sing. she opened the door to the music room and looked down the halls, once clear she sat down at the piano and began playing a soft tune. Her eyes closing as she smiled to herself.

"_Look at me~ I will never pass for a perfect bri~de, or a perfect daughter_

_Can it be~ I'm not meant to play this par~t?_

_Now I see~ that if I were truly to be myself, I would break my families hear~t_

_Who~ is that girl I see~_

_Staring straight back at me_

_Why is my reflection someone I~ don't know~?_

_Somehow~ I cannot hide who I am, though I've tried_

_When will my reflection show who I am insi~de _

_When will my reflection show who I am inside~"_

Sakura sighed as she stared at her reflection in the large window, silently asking why her school life turned out to be like this. Standing up to leave her feet froze where they stood, her eyes widened as much as the wide eyes that stared back at her.

"Your… a girl?" Naruto muttered, his words woke her from her shock, and she growled as she ran as fast as she could. Knocking him down since he blocked her exit, she ran all the way to the nurses' office and hid there, the nurse gave a knowing smile and wrote a sick note so she wouldn't have to go to most classes.

"Would you like to tell me what happened Sakura?" the dark haired nurse asked, obviously she knew, she studied the human body and could tell boy from girl blind folded. She kept it a secret because Sakura had asked and they were good family friends, Shizune somewhat understood when Sakura had explained everything.

"Naruto-san found out I was a girl" she heaved through gasping breaths, Shizune pulled a face and Sakura explained she was singing and he walked in. The dark haired nurse smiled and nodded, when the pinkette was little she had wanted to be a singer and play a bunch of instruments and that was after Sakura wanted to be a 'good witch' and after both of those she wanted to be a fighter but now Sakura didn't talk about any of those, it was almost like she had lost her dream.

The two caught up and talked about all sorts of things, Sakura was thankful for the distraction but she knew that those damned guardians would be looking for her, and they would eventually find her- oh speak of the little blonde devil, he just walked through the door with Kiba right behind him.

"The guardians would like to invite you to our afternoon tea" Naruto muttered, hating how he had to deliver the damn message.

"When is that?" the pinkette asked, in her 'male' voice.

"Right now" the brown haired boy grinned, his dog barked as though to finalize his words. Sakura showed them the sick note with a sigh.

"Can't, I'm not allowed to leave until I feel better, and I don't want to go" she muttered the last part, the canine-like boy grinned in response and dread filled in at the pit of her stomach.

"You don't have a choice, the cool thing about being a guardian is that we can abuse our authority once in a while" he said as he picked her up bridal style, Sakura immediately began thrashing and accidently palmed the boys' chin.

Taking the chance she grabbed her bag and jumped out the window, landing safely she sprinted towards the forested area of the grounds, only to be tackled by a heavy blonde.

"You're not getting away that easily!" he yelled, she rolled to the side and he yelped as he fell to the ground.

"But I am getting away" she remarked and ran, only to be caught by the wrist. Kiba grinned and began dragging her to the greenhouse the four council members resided, damn it all.

"Hey! We got her!" Naruto yelled as Kiba pulled her along, she glared at Naruto with all the might she could muster, needless to say he kept his distance… a large distance.

"So your Saku Haruno?" Ino asked in a lady-like fashion, though she could sense the mocking tone.

"For a council member you must be pretty stupid to ask a question like that, couldn't you have just read my file?" she retorted and she bristled, serves the broad right.

"Answer the question, who are you? We know you're not a boy" the, usually, silent leader said. Sakura glared at him, there was no getting out of it now.

"Sakura Haruno, female student to Seiyo Academy, assumed boy due to my father being easy distracted with his favorite book and therefor was given the wrong uniform" she stated in a bored tone, though irritation was evident. The dark haired boy smirked arrogantly and she knew then and there that one of her life ambitions would be to punch him in the face.

"Why didn't you just admit you were a girl?" he questioned and she rolled her eyes.

"You guys really are stupid, I would be picked on" the room went silent as the members of the council thought about it, and it did make sense.

"Okay, now what about when you jumped over the wall?" Naruto asked and she looked away, there was no way she was going to tell them she heard a little voice and had no control over her body when she did.

Before she could lie her red egg flew out of her bag and twirled around her before flying in front of Naruto, almost like it was glaring him in the face.

"That's because she wanted to get through the gates but you and your stupid group cause a bloody traffic jam!" the egg cracked around the middle and opened, revealing a glaring mini Sakura "next time, pose somewhere else for your glory shower, baka!" she finished and flew over to Sakura with a large grin.

"Hey! I'm Isamu! Your strong fighter self!" she called out happily; Sakura stared at the little pinkette. Her short hair was put in a ponytail that had two little red balls tired to the hairband, she had black pants with a black shirt and a red jacket that had the sleeves rolled up to the elbow.

"You've got to be kidding me…" she muttered, she looked up and saw other little people.

Sasuke had two, one was dressed as a samurai and had the katana while the other had a dark blue jacket and long blue pants with a white shirt and an electric guitar.

Ino had a girl in a dress with an apron with a flower in her hair and a flower basket; her long hair was braided with different flowers.

Kiba's looked about the same but his had a more feral look to him, with red triangle tattoos going down his cheeks and a fang poking out it reminded her of a dog.

Naruto's had two as well; one had fox ears and tail with a fang poking out, like Kiba's mini, and was wearing a black shirt with an orange jacket and a combination of orange and black pants. His other one was wearing similar clothes only that the back had a swirl printed on his back and was holding a bowl of ramen and a goofy grin.

She turned her eyes back to her mini and sighed, this was going to take a _long_ time. Sakura checked the other two and sighed, they weren't damaged and showed no signs of hatching.

"Would anyone care to explain?" she looked between the occupants of the room, Sasuke gestured her forward. She glared but walked nonetheless; it was becoming increasingly difficult to _not_ hit him, sitting in the seat offered to her she sat straight and stared unhappily at the Uchiha.

"Where to begin… you know how everyone has a dream?" Sakura nodded "well it's like that, only the selves we would rather be: our would-be selves, everyone has an egg deep in their hearts" Sasuke said, Ino continued.

"Sometimes the egg comes out into being, popping up under our covers or something, and after some time the egg hatches and POW! There's your Chara" Ino smiled when her Chara performed the 'come into being' process and popped out of her egg.

"So to put it bluntly, Isamu is the physical form of my would-be self?" everyone nodded "then what about these two?" Sakura pulled out the blue and green eggs and carefully placed them on the table.

Everyone stared wide-eyed at the two extra eggs, the pinkette fidgeted a little. After a while Sakura huffed and took her eggs and made for the door, clearly all they were going to do was stare, she heard a distant 'hey wait!' but she ignored it and went to the gate; showing the guard the medical slip she got from Shizune she was let through, papa wouldn't like her wandering the streets alone but she had to get away from those crazy kids.

She wandered into a strangely empty park, her Chara following closely behind, and sat near the fountain and began reading one of her million books. Unfortunately she didn't notice the two figures walking up to her until they were right in front of her.

"Hey brat" Sakura looked up to see two teens, one with silver hair the other wearing some headgear so she couldn't tell. The silver haired man was wearing a basic black shirt with blue ripped-jeans and a black jacket that had red clouds dotted on it.

The masked male had a grey shirt with an identical jacket to his silver partner and was wearing neater black pants. She shifted her bag closer to her when she noticed the Chara's accompanying the two.

They didn't say anything else as the masked teen took her bag, she yelled in protest but the silver haired boy held her back as his partner rummaged through it, he chuckled when he lifted her eggs.

"Nice Kakazu, now lets get out of here" the silver haired male grinned, Sakura on the other hand…

"Not with my eggs your not!" she yelled, a little hair clip of a strait tanto sword appeared in her hair as she gave a strong upper cut to her capturer, jumping into Kakazu she took her eggs and bag before running in a random direction.

"Dammit Hidan! You were supposed to her holding her still!" she heard Kakazu yell as they ran after her.

"Hey! How was I supposed to know the little brat could fight?" his partner, Hidan, retorted.

"What was that?" Sakura whispered to her Chara as they turned a corner.

"Chara-change, its when you suddenly adopt your Chara's personality" Isamu said, Sakura nodded and sprinted faster when she looked back. They were gaining on her, curse her short legs!

She ran all the way to an old playground before she stopped and looked behind her, they were gone. Looking around a bit she nodded to herself and turned around, only to bump into someone's chest, looking up she bit back a yelp.

"Nice try" Hidan grinned, Sakura jumped back only to hit Kakazu. Trapped, just fucking great, of course this would happen to her.

"Those eggs aren't yours!" Isamu yelled at Sakura's side when her bag was taken away, they took the eggs again but when Sakura tried to take them away they pushed her to the ground. They began walking away with them; a tear began to slip down her cheek.

"No!" Sakura's body became incased in a red light. Her short hair flew around her face until it settled in a medium ponytail, two red balls connected by elastic appeared around the ponytail and settled down. Sakura legs were layered with red light until it exploded and revealed long dark red baggy pants, her torso exploded with sparkles and revealed a red short-sleeved jacket with a tight black shirt, her hand glowed before bursting and showing black gloves, finally a straight tanto hair pin with a red handle appeared above her ear.

Sakura opened her eyes and looked down at herself, blushing at the clothes she turned back to the two thieves. Glaring at them she dully noted they had changed as well, Kakazu had something that looked like black whips spreading out of his body, his clothes were mainly a black cloak that shielded his body from sight. Hidan had a black cloak opened to reveal some of his chest and showed a strange necklace, he had a three bladed scythe settled on his back.

'_They look really strong, best to just grab the eggs and run'_ Isamu said from inside Sakura, the pinkette by now was not surprised and nodded, running up she positioned her fist into a well aimed punch as Hidan came to intercept.

She hit him in the gut and he flew back and crashed through the brick wall of the playground, he remained still but Sakura was too focused on grabbing her eggs and getting away, Kakazu sent out his whip-like appendages but Sakura dodged each one.

One tried to trip her but Sakura jumped up high and came crashing down on Kakazu himself, she grabbed the eggs and leapt away before he hit the ground, going by rooftop jumping she got as far away as her adrenalin lasted.

By the time Sakura stopped she was at the beach, her new outfits disappearing in a flurry of red sparkles and her uniform returned, sighing she let herself fall on the sand. She had done something that should have ben physically impossible and she wasn't even tired, Isamu floated next to her and sat on her shoulder.

"That was fun!" she quipped and Sakura stared at her for a long time, the two began giggling and then laughing. Wiping the tears from her eyes Sakura stood up, her fringe hiding half her eyesight she sighed and flipped it back, maybe she could go to school in the girls' uniform tomorrow…

Sakura stared at herself in the mirror, she was wearing the girls' uniform and she hated it, but she needed a change. Grabbing her bag and her eggs she gestured for her red Chara to follow, and left the apartment after making her father breakfast.

She stared at the gate to find it empty of giggling girls and smiled, about time. Walking through she froze, everyone had stopped and stared, taking a deep breath she held her head high and began walking through.

"Who is that?"

"I've never seen her before"

"She looks so pretty"

"She looks like Saku-kun"

"Could they be related?"

"That so cool! I didn't know Saku-kun had a sister!"

"They must be twins! But why is she her now?"

"Maybe the family was divorced and she only just got here with her mothers permission"

"Wow, that's so cool!"

Sakura sighed, looks like this will be harder than she thought, she made her way to the garden, and as she suspected the guardians were there drinking tea and cakes.

"Sakura-Chan!" Naruto yelled and said pinkette glared, everyone else stared at her new clothes.

"Sakura-"

"I want to make an announcement at the school assembly" Sakura stated, looking at Sasuke since he _is_ the king of this profound council.

"Say please" he smirked; Sakura glared but she did say something.

"Screw you" and with that she left the building and made her way to the announcement room. Tapping the mike she said a few words, her voice resounding through the school.

"Hello everyone" she said in her Sakura voice "you may be wondering what I'm doing but let me tell you now: my name is not Saku Haruno, my name is Sakura Haruno and I am a female student, everyone thought I was a boy. I was scared that I would be bullied so I continued to pretend, now I want to tell the truth, I am not a boy and I am an only child, please do not think poorly of me" with that Sakura turned the mike off and made her way to class.

When the pinkette entered the classroom everyone was staring at her, the teacher not there, and said nothing. Sakura made her way to her normal spot and stared out the window, waiting for a guardian or teacher or _somebody_ to tell her to go to the principles office.

"Um, Haruno-ku-san" a small girl came up and addressed her, Sakura looked at her and the small girl looked down.

"The principle w-would like to t-talk with you…" was all that girl seemed to be able to say, nodding Sakura stood up and took her bag as she made her way to the principles office, not knowing what will await her.

When Sakura entered the office she immediately wished she didn't, that damned council was there with the headmaster. Damn her luck, damn the guardians, damn her papa, just… damn!

"Glad you could join us Sakura" the blonde woman nodded and the pinkette went a little further into the room, hating how the emo-looking king smirked.

"Now, as we understand you were mistaken as a boy and kept up the façade so you wouldn't be bullied, what brought the sudden change of heart?" the female headmaster asked with a quirked brow.


	12. Teach Me

Sakura walked happily down the path to her house, her mother would no doubt be excited that she passed the exam and was now a genin, her father would be proud too. Silently Sakura promised to go to her father and tell him everything that has happened lately, she hasn't visited in a while.

"Oka-san I'm home" Sakura called out, her mother replied from the kitchen. The pinkette leisurely walked into the room and smiled, showing her Haiti-ate on her forehead her mother smiled brightly.

"Well done Sakura-hime! I knew you could do it!" her mother presented her with a large meal, she silently reminded herself she was on a diet so she remained thin for Sasuke's liking but decided that it was a special day so she could indulge.

"Thank you Oka-san" Sakura hugged her mother tightly and sat down, they talked about everything and before Sakura knew it she realized it was night. She supposed she would visit tomorrow after survival training.

"I better go to bed Oka-san" Sakura said off-handedly. She helped with the dishes before having a shower, plating her hair, and going to bed. Dreaming of floating rivers and talking bears that drank tea.

Rising early the pinkette prepared for the day, she thought of having breakfast but her sensei's words broke her train of thought. _'Don't eat breakfast because… you'll puke'_ were his words, sighing the pinkette prepared her hair to look good and left without breakfast but some money for lunch.

When she arrived she saw her crush and blushed, he looked so handsome. Someday she would be married to that man, though she would have to work hard considering the competition.

"Hey Sasuke-kun" she greeted cheerfully, the boy just 'hn-ed' and looked away, slightly depressed by the lack of reaction Sakura decided t would be best to stay silent. He likes that after all and she would do all she can to please him.

"Hey Sakura-Chan!" Sakura sighed as her blonde teammate; Naruto ran up and joined them. The blonde started talking about ramen, Sasuke eventually made some remark and the two started arguing, leaving the two to their bickering Sakura decided to watch the clouds like her project-partner Shikamaru.

The morning drew on to around noon and the three genin were officially hungry, tired and frustrated. Silently cursing their sensei for every little thing they could think of and as though those thoughts summoned him he appeared in a poof of smoke.

"Yo" was all he said, Naruto and Sakura yelled at him for being late and he made up some lame excuse and the two called him a liar. The Jounin simply ignored them and showed two silver bells, holding them as though they were a great prize.

"Your goal is to take these from me, the two who do will get to become ninja's while the other is sent back to the Academy, if you want them you will have to came at me with the intent to kill" Sakura gulped at his words, she didn't know if she could do that.

"Ha! This will be easy! You couldn't even dodge an eraser!" Naruto boasted, Sakura silently thanked him for his show of confidence boosted her own.

"The one the barks the loudest is normally the weakest, so I shouldn't worry about you" the masked man stated in a carefree tone, Naruto growled in response and lunged at the older man. Kunai drawn.

Within a flash Naruto had his kunai behind his head, Kakashi holding his arm so he couldn't move. Sakura mildly noticed how Sasuke had stiffened and Naruto's surprise, he was a Jounin for a reason so he had probably let the eraser hit so they would underestimate him.

"You cant attack yet, I didn't say 'go' but you did one thing right: you came at me with the intent to kill" he released Naruto and everyone waited for their teachers signal.

"Go" all three scattered, Sasuke hid in the tree branches and Sakura hid under some bushes. This gave her a clear view of the battlefield and hid her ridiculously bright locks from sight.

"You, me, right now! Lets go!" Sakura resisted the growl that threatened to leave her throat and reveal her position; the blonde clearly had little sense.

Kakashi said something about taijutsu and pulled out a book, when Naruto questioned it the silver haired mans reply made Naruto charge in headfirst. Her eyes widened when Kakashi easily blocked and dodged every attack while never looking away from his book.

Suddenly the silver haired Jounin put his hands together with opposite forefingers lined up along each other, he appeared behind Naruto and poked him in the butt. Sakura didn't know whether to feel disgusted or severely amused, after all Naruto did look really funny and his reaction would be fit for a comedians show.

Naruto exploded from the water he had landed in and created a large amount of Kage Bunshin, only these were solid clones. They all overwhelmed Kakashi but during the brawl she sensed Kakashi's chakra moved somewhere else near the canopy, when the Naruto's couldn't find Kakashi they turned on each other but the real Naruto dispelled them all.

Realizing what had happened Naruto started to run of but a glint caught his eye, taking the chance he grabbed it but quickly flew up a few feet and tangled while the rope on his ankle securely kept him restrained above the ground.

The Jounin came out of his hiding place and walked to the bell on the ground that Naruto had dropped, Sakura looked at him carefully. Kakashi had a larger, stronger, chakra signal than what he was exhibiting. Could he be cloaking it? Why? There's no need, could it be a genjustu? No, she didn't sense any change.

Substitution! This Kakashi was a clone; Kakashi had started giving Naruto a lecture when he was hit with a barrage of shuriken. Realizing Sasuke had taken the bait she kept herself down, she didn't want Sasuke to be hurt but their enemy would chase him and give Sakura time to plan.

She sensed two different chakra signals quickly rush farther away from the clearing, leaving her and the dangling blonde. She was surprised at their speed, she couldn't go that fast, there was no way she could.

Standing up she made her way into the clearing, she needed to think of a plan. Keeping her eyes pointed in the direction the two males went she moved closer to Naruto, he would be a good distraction when she helped Sasuke.

What was in her arsenal? Blunt kunai and shuriken, she didn't want to hurt herself with her own weapons. A few smoke bombs and paper bombs, since she thought they would be useful. Genjustu? Nothing she knew would fool the Jounin. Ninjutsu? She barely knew the basics, her chakra reserves were low and her taijutsu was no better off.

Thinking harder she tried to put together a plan, cutting Naruto from the rope she caught him and threw him over her shoulder so he wouldn't trigger the second one. She was smart, that was it. Sighing she realized she would need her blonde teammates help, quickly thinking up a plan the pinkette turned to Naruto.

"I have a plan, it probably wont work but it should let us get the bells" she said, Naruto grinned and listened. Once the plan was set the two set off, she hoped Sasuke was okay, maybe she would ask him to train with her afterwards.

They found the other two battling it out; Sakura parted from Naruto and went so she was slightly behind Sasuke while Naruto made a bunch of clones that went after Kakashi. Sakura made clones of herself, though they were just illusions, and they transformed into Naruto's before jumping out of their hiding place and running after the other Naruto's.

Sakura then jumped down and stood by Sasuke, her clones mixing with Naruto's meant Kakashi wouldn't know which was which, at least for a while they were safe.

"We need to transform into Naruto and join in, when I give the signal Naruto will disperse and the smoke will give you cover to grab the bells, I'll stop any counterattacks" she explained, he glared at her but transformed nonetheless. A little hurt by the gesture she transformed into Naruto as well, 'Naruto' paid her no acknowledgment as they ran forward and joined in.

"Cha!" she yelled, dispersing her clones as Naruto did as well, the smoke covered the area and Sasuke went for the bells. Kakashi tried to grab the boys wrist but something held his own, he saw pink and realized the pinkette had grabbed him to stop him from diverting Sasuke's attempt to take the bells, this took only a second but a second was all they needed.

The two jumped away from the Jounin and ran to the forest, Naruto joining them quickly as they jumped from branch to branch. Kakashi didn't say anything about him not being able to get the bells back before the timer went off, and they weren't taking any chances.

They reached the clearing by the bridge just as the timer rang off; everyone was silent for a few seconds. Naruto suddenly let out a victorious battle cry and fist-pumped as he jumped up, grinning like an idiot and Sakura cheered as well, Sasuke just smirked.

Kakashi appeared with a smile, patting Sakura on the head. She closed her eyes in surprise at the gesture, she looked up at him and his grin widened. Nodding to the boys he lent back, looking up at the sky.

"Do you all know why I chose this test?" no one answered, "why do you think you were out in teams of three?" silence lasted for a while until Sakura spoke up.

"Teamwork…?" she asked and that earned her another pat on the head, she suspected that it was going to become a habit for him.

"Correct you are Sakura, and for that exact reason you pass. Naruto and Sasuke will be sent back to the Academy" with this statement Naruto burst out into yells.

"But we all worked together!" Sasuke nodded to his partners' statement, Kakashi just sighed.

"It was Sakura who applied teamwork, you two would have probably ended up fighting each other instead of me. Sasuke you did nothing to help Naruto, you just tried to get to me, Naruto you didn't want Sasuke to help because of your competitive streak with him. Sakura, however, ignored her desire to check on Sasuke and helped Naruto and even created a plan that would work for all of you despite knowing Sasuke would most likely reject her help" he explained and Sakura blushed slightly at his words.

Sasuke growled at his own stupidity, he was going back to the Academy with the dead-last while the weakest member of their team was going advancing beyond him, he couldn't believe it, and what's worse is that she would try to impress him with it.

"No sensei" now that he didn't expect to hear, he looked over at his teammate. Determination and intelligence shown in her eyes as she almost glared at their teacher, Naruto looked dumbfounded while Kakashi looked puzzled.

"You said that we were made into teams for teamwork, what would be the point if I passed and my teammates didn't? In a mission this would either be a failed mission or everyone would be dead, if your going to send them back to the Academy you'll have to send me back to" she stated, though one could see the fear and sadness seep into her gaze. Their sensei simply grinned.

"You all pass"

…

…

…_What!?_

Staring at their sensei the group tried to decipher what was going on, they failed? Or passed? Did one of them pass? What the hell was going on!

"If Sakura had not spoken out like that you would have all failed, remember this: those who abandon the mission are scum, but those who abandon their friends are worse than scum" Sakura fell to her knees in relief, sighing loudly she laughed a little. She felt her sensei pat her on the head; she looked up at him in response.

"There, there. Go home and get some rest, the missions start tomorrow" and with that he poofed away, Sakura sighed again and stood. Naruto went off raving about ramen and Sasuke began walking away.

"Oh, Sasuke-kun, wait! Would you like to train with me?" she asked pleasantly but all he did was glare.

"Why would I train with a weak kunoichi?" he mock-asked and Sakura faltered.

"But… I made the plan to get the bells…" she tried to reason, he just scoffed at her.

"I had the situation under control, then you two just butted in, the only reason that worked was because of Naruto and me, you barely did anything" he said and walked of again and Sakura just stood there. When he disappeared tears began streaming down her face, her crush had just said that to her.

Falling to the ground again she hung her head, all she had done and he didn't even acknowledge that the reason he even passed was because of her!  
**'That arrogant, selfish bastard! I thought he was sexy but now he's just a prick! We can do better than him, we can **_**be**_** better than him!'** her Inner raged on but Sakura knew that she wasn't better, after his words what she suspected hit her full force and painfully clear.

She was useless.

She was horrible at taijutsu, barely knew any ninjutsu and rarely used the ones she did know, barely knew any genjustu, and didn't have any specialty. All she had was her brains, and they wouldn't get her far in a shinobi battle.

Picking herself up she made her way to the memorial stone nearby; she needed to talk to her father.

"Hey Oto-san" Sakura muttered as she stared at the name Hiroshi Haruno carved in the stone, sitting down she leaned against the cool surface and retold the events of the past few days she hadn't visited.

"So the Uchiha thinks I'm weak, yeah I don't gush about 'Sasuke-kun' anymore. He really hurt me when he said those words, and I thought we could start on teamwork or something" she sighed "now I don't know what to do, I don't want to quit being a ninja but I know that I'll just be dead weight to my team"

She looked at the name as though it would give her answers, closing her eyes she thought about what her father would say.  
_'Sakura, you shouldn't worry about someone else's opinion, what matters is what you think of yourself'_

"But I don't think well of myself either, I see now that I'm just a weak little girl" she muttered, she envisioned her father grinning at her.  
_'Then change it, you have the resources and you have the stubbornness to do so, just keep trying and don't you dare quit!' _he would say in his cheer-up voice, striking a pose with a grin. Smiling to her father put her fingers to her lips and then to the carved name of her father, putting her forehead there she sighed happily.

"Arigato papa…" she whispered and stood up, her posture strong. Running off to the training field to work on her stamina, never noticing the presence hiding in the shadows.

Said figure stepped out and walked over to the stone, reading 'Hiroshi Haruno' like the girl before him. He smiled at the stone sadly; he had known him too, before chuckling lightly.

"I know you're proud of her, Hiroshi" he muttered, picturing the joyful man grinning with a peace sign while sitting at a campsite during a mission. He would always talk about Sakura when she was born, and how she had pink hair like all Haruno women even though a female Haruno hadn't been born in over three generations.

"Well, I'll see you around" he said as he turned away and walked to wherever seemed convenient.

Sakura panted as she finished sixth lap, and Kami was she tired. She had been training for hours but it still didn't feel like enough, she didn't feel like she was getting any stronger!

She wasn't going to get very good at taijutsu just training by herself, she needed a teacher. She couldn't turn to Kakashi since he would probably focus on Naruto or Sasuke, she felt a pang of pain at Sasuke's mention, because they showed real promise, he may of chosen her over her teammates but she knew that was just a façade to get them to work together better.

Her stomach chose then to remind her that she hadn't eaten since dinner last night she made her way to her favorite restaurant, ordering some sweet dumplings and rice with some mineral water. She sat at her usual seat, by the window with two other chairs available for whoever decides to join her, but no one does.

"Yosh! Guy-sensei let us try this restaurant!" she heard a loud voice say loudly, his sensei laughed and agreed. Two identical males walked through the entrance; one was a smaller version of the older looking man. They both wore a green spandex with orange leg-warmers with bowl-cut hair and bushy brows, she could tell they were ninja's. Deciding that if she stared any longer it would be rude she looked away and took a sip of her mineral water.

"Oh excuse me?" the pinkette looked up to see the younger of the bowl-cut boys was addressing her "may we join you? All the other seats are taken" he asked. She looked around to see it was full, smiling she nodded and gestured for him to sit.

He grinned brightly and yelled to his sensei that he found some seats, the older man grinned while holding a large amount of food for both him and his smaller self.

"Oh, I'm Sakura by the way" Sakura started the conversation, the two smiled blinding smiles at her.

"I am Guy, the Green beast of Konoha!"

"And I am Lee, Guy-sensei's greatest student! It's a pleasure to meet such a beautiful blossom of Konoha!" they introduced and she smiled at them, Konoha was known for its quirky ninja's. She asked what they had done before and Lee answered enthusiastically, as predicted.

"We have been training Sakura-san! One day I will be the greatest taijutsu master of all time!" the boy announced and Sakura stared wide-eyed, she herself was trying to get better at taijutsu and what are the odds she comes by two masters of said style.

"That's amazing Lee, I'm sure you'll achieve one day, and don't add a 'san' please, you can just call me 'Sakura' or 'Sakura-Chan' if you want" she smiled and they both beamed at her.

"Um… may I ask something of you Guy-san?" she asked timidly, the two looked at her, slightly surprised by her change in demeanor.

"Of course, and just Guy is fine" he added, she smiled and took a deep breath.

"May I learn taijutsu from you?" she asked, looking down at her food. When there was no noise she risked a peek at him, his face was one of contemplation.

"You do have your own sensei don't you?" he asked and she fought back a sigh.

"Yes but he's not a master, and I suspect he will be focused more on the boys since they show greater promise than me, I don't want to be left behind" she muttered the last part. She noticed the gleam in his eyes that showed that he seemed to approve of what she said.

"And who is your sensei?" he said, she knew it was the final question and she resisted the erg to grin.

"Kakashi Hatake" she stated and his eyes widened, he laughed and gave her a thumbs up.

"Of course, I would love to train a student of my eternal rival! We will start after our meal" he announced and the two boys began inhaling their food, she was a bit stunned at how the training would start but she ate quickly, if a little slower, like them. The sooner the better she decided, as long as she wasn't left behind.

Once they finished they ran all the way to a training area she wasn't familiar with, the two boys had to be slow so she could keep up and was frustrated that she was being a burden so she increased her speed to as fast as she could go with chakra, Guy had exclaimed how determined his new student was.

"Now first up you will need this," he offered a spandex to Sakura and she inwardly cringed.

"Um, Guy-sensei, I wouldn't be comfortable in this which would make my training less productive, sorry" she muttered, he seemed to think about this before nodding.

"Right, you are a girl after all and it wouldn't do for a lady to wear something like this" he decided and Sakura immediately knew what he was talking about, blushing she silently cursed her perverted neighbor and suspected Kakashi was just the same.

Suddenly the spandex disappeared and in its place were a pair of weights, she looked at them and further inspection revealed they were for the legs and weighed a few kilograms.

"You will wear these all day everyday, even as you sleep but not when you bath, once you have improved enough we will add the weight" nodding at her new sensei she took them and almost dropped them at the sudden weight, damn she was really weak.

She paused as the words flew through her mind. _Weak_, she would never be weak again; she would show everyone that she could be strong. Strapping them on she moved her legs a bit to adjust them, Guy even gave her some leg-warmers like Lees and she put them on as well. She promised herself that she would buy a new ninja outfit along with some new leg-warmers because these ones made her cringe if she stared at them to long.

"Now, lets start with fifty laps!" Guy cried, Lee tried to say something about Sakura not being ready but the pinkette covered his mouth.

"I will not be left behind" was all she said as she took off to do her fifty laps, Lee and Guy stared after her and then each other. Grinning they joined her, overlapping her many time over and even did extra laps while she finished hers.

After that they did push-ups and practiced the basics, having light spars with Lee and Guy stopping mid-battle to point out their mistakes and to give tips or show the right form or way to do something, though this was mainly with Sakura. The three of them trained well into the night.

"Guy-sensei, before you go I was wondering…" Guy stared proudly at his latest student with curiosity mixed with his pride.

"Yes?" he questioned, she looked up at him determinedly and he couldn't help but notice how the Will of Fire burned brightly in her.

"Could you also give me some weights for my arms?" his eyes widened, thinking it over he grinned. It would help with increasing her arm strength and further the weight she had to carry so her speed would further improve.

"All right, but the same rules will apply for those, no taking them off" he said, she nodded and waved goodbye as she made her way to the market, kami knew she needed a new ninja outfit.

Going to a familiar store for ninja she immediately bought some red zipper shirts and some singlets to go under. Buying some beige shorts that stopped just above the knees she got some white leg and arm-warmers she also got some bandages, her red shirts bore her clan symbol.

Going to the weapons section she bought the standard kunai and shuriken, adding some paper and smoke bombs and couldn't resist buying a curved tanto sword and a back pouch (like the one Shikamaru had) also deciding to buy some ninja wire and senbon needles she finally decided it would be enough… for now at least.

Going home with all that plus her leg weights, exhaustion, and overall hunger made Sakura actually consider sleeping in an alleyway but decided against it considering her mother would have a heart attack.

Once home she immediately knew her mother had left out some food for her and had gone to bed, silently thanking her mother she put everything in her room and practically ran down the stairs and ate quickly, actually going for seconds- fuck the Uchiha, she's going to eat as much as she wants- and had a shower before going to bed.

When she woke the next morning the consequences of such training hit her hard, knowing that Guys team got up insanely early and stopped around the same time hers did she thought that was a good thing, plus with the few hours she would have to train alone or with someone else thanks to her always late sensei.

Taking her time she kissed her mother on the cheek and said good-bye, she had left at around six o'clock like since the official arrival time is six thirty and their teacher isn't there until eight thirty _at least_. So Sakura leisurely walked along the streets, she thought about her jutsu and how she would need someone to learn from or at least something to learn.

Deciding she would simply ask Kakashi about it later Sakura strolled by the many stalls that were closed due to the early day, they would open soon though. Sakura paced by the library and spontaneously to go in, quickly passing through the guarded door leading to scrolls and books of techniques and history of the village. She browsed for a long while; so long in fact almost two hours had passed. Grabbing a random book she sprinted out the door, having it checked out, and sprinted as fast as her weighted body allowed.

Sakura giggled as she neared her destination, they would probably think Kakashi was rubbing off on her. She waved when her team came into view, minus one spiky haired sensei, and jogged the rest of the way, weights still very much attached but now she had added bandages so they wouldn't scratch or rub her legs raw.

"Sakura-Chan! Your almost as late as Kakashi-sensei, is he rubbing off on you?" he asked and Sakura decided to be a little mischievous towards her blonde teammate.

"Sorry Naruto, I just got lost on the road of life" she said and the two boys stared at her, she outright laughed then and there. Sitting herself on the railing she began reading a book on the basics of genjustu, apparently she had picked it when she realized she was late.

"What are reading Sakura?" said pinkette jumped when she heard her sensei's voice, looking up to see her team staring at her she chuckled a little.

"Sorry, its just a really interesting book- and no its not porn sensei" she quickly added at the look her teacher gave her, smiling he patted her head again. Jeez he treats her like a five-year-old; still she found it comforting since her papa did it when he was still in this world.

"Okay then, we have a mission so we need to get going" he said and everyone looked excited.

As it turned out the missions were more like chores Sakura would do around the neighbors to earn a small income, they involved weeding, walking dogs, painting houses and they had a good one where they had to help with a construction site. As the weeks went by, Sakura got stronger; she could now match Sasuke in speed and even beat him! Arguments between her teammates were frequent and between Kakashi's torture sessions and Guy's mad exercise she grew steadily stronger.

'_Of course, damn him'_ Sakura sat down in the sun, her forehead protector off as she sunbathed in the humidity of midday. She heard a soft mew, she didn't move until she heard the third one, opening her eyes she spied the target. Instead of getting tight and excited Sakura just sighed, she hated her sensei sometimes.

The cat deemed it safe to approach and nudged the girls hand, smiling she petted the small thing. It purred happily, wishing its master was like this pink haired stranger.

"Where's your owner, you know they would be terribly worried" she said gently, she had left her earpiece behind so the cat wouldn't notice and run off. This cat had run away many times apparently, Naruto suspected it might have experience in escaping and while Sasuke scoffed saying normal animals aren't that smart Kakashi just grinned, Sakura had stayed quiet the entire time.

It meowed pathetically, as if saying that she didn't care because her owner was evil, smiling to herself she sighed.  
**'Where the hell are those bastards? We practically give them the target gift wrapped and yet they don't show up!'** Sakura couldn't help but agree with her Inner, what were those boys doing?

Just as she thought they had left her Naruto zoomed out and caught the black feline and laughed triumphantly only to have the cat scratch at his face but still failed to escape. Sasuke called Kakashi and announced the target was captured, the group made their way to the mission room.

During the weeks of practice Sakura had asked about ninjutsu, as it turns out most people have an affinity with a certain element. Kakashi has lightning, Naruto had wind, Sasuke obviously has fire and she apparently had water, though Kakashi noted how the edges were slightly muddy.

Sakura grinned at herself when she thought about water jutsu; she already had near perfect chakra control so some water-style jutsu would definitely help with her training, there was only one problem: how was she going to fit that in?

In the morning Sakura slept as much as possible, during around 8:00 am to 1:00pm she was with Kakashi and her team with teamwork and sparring, while in the afternoon she was with Lee and Guy trying to keep up with them until about five at earliest and near midnight at latest.

She had found time though, Guy's team was often off on missions, so while they were out on missions Sakura tried water jutsu and a few basic ones like henge, Bunshin, which Naruto offered to teach her, and teleportation. Now she could use a common teleportation technique with only one hand-sign, that technique was sorely under-used since she only knew two people who used it, one being her Kage.

Her henge was good enough to fool Guy's team during one of the rare times he brought his entire team to help with training, as long as Neji didn't use his Byakugan. Also her Bunshin were perfect copies and she soon would only need one hand-sign for that as well.

After reviewing genjustu basics enough times she started learning them, with Kakashi's vigilance and sometimes assistance. She steadily grew better and now can perform higher than average genjustu, identify and dispel genjustu pretty easily… though she still has trouble against Kakashi's.

Now she can make nineteen solid clones at once without enduring too much fatigue but she wouldn't do anymore unless necessary. So with her taijutsu, genjustu and ninjutsu all rising at an exceptional speed she was proud to say she could hold her own.

"Come on old man! Stop giving us these kiddy chores and give us a real mission!" Naruto finally snapped and Sakura was snapped back into reality. She sighed, he usually didn't last this long, but she had to agree with him. These 'missions' were wearing down the large amount of patience she had, seeing as all she had done was meet a few familiar faces as they reminisced the old days when Sakura was a child, this of course brought forth some funny stories that she knew her sensei would try to use as blackmail.

"Naruto! Show respect!" Iruka chastised before going into a detailed explanation of missions and rank, which bored them pretty quick so Naruto talked about a new ramen recipe that Ichiraku was offering Naruto to sample so they could get the flavor right, Iruka noticed this eventually and fumed but luckily the Hokage stopped them.

"Alright, if you all want it that badly, you'll be doing a C-rank mission" the old man said with a smile.


End file.
